Cross-device data distribution with modular architecture

ABSTRACT

A method includes receiving identifiers of a set of computing devices to participate in a cross-device data visualization session; sending a data set to each computing device and instructions to display a first portion of the data set; receiving an interaction with one of the identified computing devices requesting another computing device to display a second portion of the data set; sending an instruction to display the second portion of the data set to the at least some of the other identified computing devices, where the instruction is sent without sending at least some of the second portion after receiving the interaction and the instruction causes the at least some of the other identified computing devices to execute the instructions on the at least some of the second portion of the data set that is present at the at least some of the other identified computing devices.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This patent is a continuation in part of U.S. patent application Ser.No. 15/891,055, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 62/455,770, filed 7 Feb. 2017, U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 62/455,762, filed 7 Feb. 2017, U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 62/456,806, filed 9 Feb. 2017, U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 62/457,371, filed 10 Feb. 2017, U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 62/457,408, filed 10 Feb. 2017, U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 62/460,161, filed 17 Feb. 2017 and U.S. ProvisionalPatent Application No. 62/460,163, filed 17 Feb. 2017. Each of theparent filings above is incorporated by reference for all purposes.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention

The present disclosure relates generally to computer systems and, morespecifically distributed applications and related protocols.

2. Description of the Related Art

Across many industries, there has been an explosion of data. Companieshave better information technology systems that provide low-latencyaccess to vast amounts of structured (e.g., in relational or noSQLdatabases) and unstructured (e.g., in human-readable documents) data.Further, sensors and applications generate new data at tremendous ratesand these data-generators are proliferating through the move towardpaperless offices and deployment of sensor-laden industrial equipmentand Internet-of-things appliances. And the available data is beingshared at increasing rates, e.g., through various websites andapplication program interfaces.

To help make sense of this data, many companies and government entitieshave turned to data visualization applications. These applicationsingest (often large amounts of) data and facilitate the presentation ofthat data in ways that efficiently communicate information and insightsto human users. In some cases, these data visualization applications areused to generate visual graphics, like bar charts, plots, force-directedgraphs, Voronoi diagrams, and the like to display aspects of data.

Often, these data visualization applications support cross-device usecases. Such applications are often configured to facilitatecollaborative analysis and presentation of data through cross-devicesharing of program state. For instance, a given distributed datavisualization application might present an interface on a desktopcomputer with several different graphics and a tabular view of data,while a table computer may display one of the graphs selected on thedesktop interface, in some cases, updating one display to reflectchanges entered through the other. Examples include those described andcited in a paper titled QR-Vis: Embodied Interaction for Cross-DeviceVisualization, Anonymous authors, Submitted to IEEE InfoVis 2015,available at http://www.umiacs.umd.edu/˜elm/projects/qrvis/qrvis.pdf,the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference as oneexample of a cross-device data visualization application that may beimproved upon with the techniques below.

These cross-device data visualization applications, however, are oftentoo difficult and complex for users to configure. These challenges areoften particularly vexing in the context of web-based data visualizationapplications, which often benefit from the wide user base of webbrowsers (and thus do not require a special purpose application beinstalled on every device), but which are also often particularlydifficult for users to configure, as server-side logic is often muchmore difficult to reconfigure than settings in special-purposeapplications.

Moreover, these cross-device data visualization applications, however,are often not well suited for analysis of large data sets. Often, usersare relatively latency sensitive, e.g., delays as small as 200milliseconds have been observed to materially decrease user engagementwith various types of applications. Yet data visualizations oftenimplicate large data sets that can take substantially longer for a givendevice to access, and this problem is often compounded in cross-deviceuse cases where every device in a session seeks access to the same data.

Data formats, types and structures vastly vary, increasing the problemof communicating systems. Standards exist, but they tend to be specificfor industry and solution. Within any organization, and acrossorganizations, sharing and integrating data, is difficult. The singledata format that's universal is the table, for which there areextensively used file formats (such as csv) and that can be exportedfrom any widely used tool such as Excel or common databases. It'simportant to note that something even simpler, such a list of numbers,has no standard or widely adopted format (it has to be ‘packed’ into atable).

Websites main way of denoting a connection is via hyperlink. A websitecan point to another with a hyperlink (e.g., with a URL resolved to anIP address by a DNS, or directly with an IP address), and HTML alongwith the browser provides the mechanism to access the referencedwebsite. This connection often does not allow any transfer ofinformation from the target site back to the linking document.

Dimensionality reduction is an open problem in the field of computerscience. A variety of approaches have been proposed and implemented, butthey are lacking in various respects. Examples include analysis ofvariance (ANOVA) and various machine learning techniques for discoveryfeatures, like deep convolution neural nets and recurrent neural nets.Generally, these techniques are used to determine what relationships areimportant in a data set that typically includes a very large number ofcandidate relationships. However, approaches like ANOVA are oftenrelatively slow for large numbers of candidate relationships, while manymachine learning techniques deprive the analysis of insight into how asolution was reached, which might conceal implicit assumptions that leadto a relatively brittle result.

Mobile applications are executed in a variety of different computingdevices, such as a cell phone, wearable computing device, or tabletcomputer. Generally, mobile applications are vetted and distributed by atrusted authority, such as an application store provider. The trustedauthority often attempts to ensure that the mobile application does notengage in malicious behavior, and in many cases provides the operatingsystem executing on the mobile device upon which the mobile applicationexecutes.

In many cases, it can be difficult for an application developer orprovider to manage their mobile application instances that have beendeployed. For example, it may be desirable for an application providerto delete or otherwise disable a deployed mobile application instance ona given mobile computing device upon some condition occurring. But inmany cases, the security constraints imposed by trusted authorities thatdistribute mobile applications prevent the use of traditional techniquesto manage deployed software, for instance various digital rightsmanagement techniques, or automated scripts that delete other programs.Further, many of these traditional techniques are not configured todelete or otherwise disable an application based on a context of themobile computing device.

SUMMARY

The following is a non-exhaustive listing of some aspects of the presenttechniques. These and other aspects are described in the followingdisclosure.

1. Data Visualization Applications

Some aspects include a process of coordinating a cross-device datavisualization session, the method comprising: receiving, by a computersystem, identifiers of a set of computing devices to participate in across-device data visualization session; sending, by the computersystem, a data set to each of the computing devices and instructions todisplay a first portion of the data set; receiving, by the computersystem, an interaction with one of the identified computing devicesrequesting at least some of the other identified computing devices todisplay a second, at least partially different, portion of the data set;and sending an instruction to display the second, at least partiallydifferent portion of the data set to the at least some of the otheridentified computing devices, wherein the instruction is sent withoutsending at least some of the second portion after receiving theinteraction and the instruction causes the at least some of the otheridentified computing devices to execute the instructions on the at leastsome of the second portion of the data set that is present at the atleast some of the other identified computing devices, wherein thedisplay of the first portion of the data set and the display of thesecond at least partially different portion of the data set displaysdifferent aspects of data visualization.

Some aspects include a process of accessing data in a cross-device datavisualization session, the method comprising: receiving identifiers of aset of computing devices to participate in a cross-device datavisualization session; sending a data set to each of the computingdevices and instructions to display a first portion of the data set;receiving an interaction with one of the identified computing devicesrequesting at least some of the other identified computing devices todisplay a second, at least partially different portion of the data set;and sending an instruction to display the second, at least partiallydifferent portion of the data set to the at least some of the otheridentified computing devices, wherein the instruction is sent withoutsending at least some of the second portion after receiving theinteraction.

Some aspects include a process of coordinating a cross-device datavisualization session, the process including: receiving information in afirst data structure; receiving instructions to transform theinformation into a second data structure different from the first datastructure; in response to the instructions, selecting a decodercorresponding to the first data structure and an encoder correspondingto the second data structure; and transforming the information from thefirst data structure to the second data structure with the selecteddecoder and the selected encoder.

Some aspects include a process of coordinating a cross-device datavisualization session, the process including: obtaining a directed graphspecifying a plurality of modules executing on a plurality of computers,edges of the graph indicating communication from one module to anotheramong the plurality of modules; receiving, from a first module among theplurality of modules, an output of the first module; analyzing thedirected graph to determine whether another module among the pluralityof modules has completed an operation; and after determining that theother module has completed the operation, sending the output to a secondmodule among the plurality of modules.

2. Application Layer Protocols

Some aspects include a process of communicating between websites, themethod comprising: obtaining markup and a script that, at least in part,define a first webpage accessible at a first domain; receiving, from aserver at the first domain, a request for the first webpage from aclient computing device web browser; sending to the client computingdevice, the first webpage including the markup and the script, whereinthe sent script includes: an asynchronous event handler configured to:process data-received events received via steps for circumventing asame-origin policy of the browser; and update a document object model ofthe first webpage based on data received from a server at a seconddomain, different from the first domain via one or more processeddata-received events.

Some aspects include a process of communication between websites, themethod comprising: operating, by a computer system, a first webpageaccessible at a first domain and a second webpage accessible at a seconddomain; receiving, by the computer system, a first data input at thefirst webpage; updating, by the computer system, a first visualizationprovided on the second webpage based on the first data input; anddisplaying, by the computer system on a display, the updated firstvisualization on the second webpage.

Some aspects include a process of preparing a visualization to assist insubsequent selections of data analysis techniques, the methodcomprising: obtaining a data set having more than five dimensions;identifying and converting numeric dimensions into categoricaldimensions by quantizing values in the numeric dimensions; calculatingrespective entropies for values in each dimension; forming a matrix inwhich rows and columns each correspond to one of the dimensions, whereineach dimension uniquely corresponds to at least one row and to at leastone column, and wherein values of the adjacent matrix are determined bycalculating two values between the dimensions at a given row and columnof the matrix indexing the calculated two values, the two valuesincluding: information gain values ig(A,B) and ig(B,A), that indicatehow much entropy decreases when one split one variable using the valuesof the other; pruning the matrix by, for each information gain value,above a threshold, create a directed relation; and calculating ameasures of network centrality for the dimensions of the pruned matrix.

3. Self-Disabling and Self-Deleting Mobile Applications

Some aspects include a process of disabling or deleting a mobileapplication, comprising: obtaining an application with a disablementroutine having disablement criteria; determining, at a first time, withthe disablement routine, that the criteria are not satisfied and, inresponse, executing the application; and determining, at a first time,with the disablement routine, that the criteria are not satisfied and,in response, preventing the application from executing.

With respect to each in each of the above subsections, some aspectsinclude a tangible, non-transitory, machine-readable medium storinginstructions that when executed by a data processing apparatus cause thedata processing apparatus to perform operations including theabove-mentioned process.

With respect to each in each of the above subsections, some aspectsinclude a system, including: one or more processors; and memory storinginstructions that when executed by the processors cause the processorsto effectuate operations of the above-mentioned process.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The patent or application file contains at least one drawing executed incolor. Copies of this patent or patent application publication withcolor drawing(s) will be provided by the Office upon request and paymentof the necessary fee.

The above-mentioned aspects and other aspects of the present techniqueswill be better understood when the present application is read in viewof the following figures in which like numbers indicate similar oridentical elements:

FIG. 1 illustrates an example use case with multiple displays in across-device data visualization session;

FIG. 2 illustrates the comparably large data size needed for loadinginformation on different computers versus the small data size exchangedbetween computers for synchronization according to some of thetechniques herein;

FIG. 3 illustrates an example use case with multiple interactingwebsites operating with a connection protocol;

FIG. 4 illustrates an example use case of a session displaying theinterrelationship of data as a network of interconnected nodes;

FIG. 5A illustrates a case in which multiple modules are interconnectedand information from one module is transmitted directly to two modules;

FIG. 5B illustrates a case in which multiple modules are interconnectedand information is from two modules is transmitted to one module;

FIG. 6 illustrates data structure relations possible through sharing ofinformation according to some of the techniques herein;

FIG. 7 illustrates an example of a computing device by which thetechniques herein may be implemented;

FIG. 8 is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of a cross-devicedata visualization system, in accordance with some embodiments of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 9 is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of a clientcomputing device used in the cross-device data visualization system ofFIG. 8 , in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 10 is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of a servercomputing device used in the cross-device data visualization system ofFIG. 9 , in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 11 is a flow chart illustrating an embodiment of a method ofcross-device data visualization, in accordance with some embodiments ofthe present disclosure;

FIG. 12 is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of an applicationdata exchange system, in accordance with some embodiments of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 13 is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of a clientcomputing device used in the application data exchange system of FIG. 12, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 14 is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of a servercomputing device used in the application data exchange system of FIG. 12, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 15 is a flow chart illustrating an embodiment of a method ofapplication data exchange, in accordance with some embodiments of thepresent disclosure.

While the invention is susceptible to various modifications andalternative forms, specific embodiments thereof are shown by way ofexample in the drawings and will herein be described in detail. Thedrawings may not be to scale. It should be understood, however, that thedrawings and detailed description thereto are not intended to limit theinvention to the particular form disclosed, but to the contrary, theintention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternativesfalling within the spirit and scope of the present invention as definedby the appended claims.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF CERTAIN EMBODIMENTS

To mitigate the problems described herein, the inventors had to bothinvent solutions and, in some cases just as importantly, recognizeproblems overlooked (or not yet foreseen) by others in the fields ofcomputer science, data visualization application development or humancomputer interaction. Indeed, the inventors wish to emphasize thedifficulty of recognizing those problems that are nascent and willbecome much more apparent in the future should trends in industrycontinue as the inventors expect. Further, because multiple problems areaddressed, it should be understood that some embodiments areproblem-specific, and not all embodiments address every problem withtraditional systems described herein or provide every benefit describedherein. That said, improvements that solve various permutations of theseproblems are described below.

Several independently useful inventions are described below. Theseinventions may be used synergistically together, but it should beemphasized that they need not be combined. In other words, the claimsshould not be read to require that each invention described in thispatent be present, as the claims may focus on only one or a combinationof a subset of the inventive techniques described herein. Indeed, theinventors expect to file several versions of this disclosure indifferent patents to target different aspects of the described subjectmatter.

1. Multiple Screen Applications

Although multiple-screen applications exist in various contexts,including Business Intelligence, analytics and data visualization, thesesystems tend to be rigid in that the different views are often fixed,new views cannot be created or added on the run, and adding new views isoften technically very difficult.

The protocol and systems that implement the protocol described below areuseful in a variety of contexts. An example use case is described withreference to data visualization applications, but a variety of otheruses are contemplated. Some embodiments provide a way to createmulti-screen data applications, in which multiple Business Intelligence(BI) dashboards, interactive information visualization applications and,in general, any data application, share data across devices and thuscreate multiple screens user experience. In some embodiments,interaction on one screen affects the others. In some embodiments, it isextremely easy to add and remove devices.

A variety of different devices that can be agglomerated to form amulti-screen data application: desktop computers, portable computers,tablets, smartphones, smartwatches, virtual reality goggles. In general:any device capable to process data, display it on a screen and captureuser interaction, including internet of things (IoT) appliances, likevoice-responsive computer hubs, smart televisions, smart door locks,smart thermostats, and the like.

An example result of such agglomeration is a series of screensdisplaying different contents and that feel and behave as a singlesystem. For instance, an input on one device may cause a display on boththat device and a display on other grouped devices to update to reflectthe input, e.g., to resize a graph, select a subset of a graph, adjust afilter, present a different view of data, view different data, or thelike.

Embodiments may implement these (and other) techniques with thefollowing features:

-   -   each screen belongs to an independent device, in some        embodiments;    -   devices can be added and removed organically from the multiple        screens applications, in some embodiments;    -   applications in each device can be developed independently (in        different devices, by different developers), in some        embodiments; and    -   there is no distance restriction—devices can be located in        different and distant places, in some embodiments.

This approach, in some cases, affords a number of benefits and features:

-   -   an analyst developer that builds BI dashboards, interactive        visualizations, data analysis interfaces or any data        application, to create multiple views that could communicate as        a grouped and bigger (multi-screens and multiprocessor) data        application, in some embodiments;    -   different analyst users could operate synchronously, in the same        multi-screen data application, working collaboratively and also        in the same physical space (each analyst may operate its own        device or subset of devices), in some embodiments;    -   different analyst developers could produce different data        applications that, seamlessly and organically, can be added or        removed from a multi-screen data application. In some cases,        each data application is autonomous and useful by itself, but it        can also connect with any other data application (that uses the        same data protocol) or any already assembled multi-screen        application, in some embodiments;    -   multi-screen applications can exist remotely, so analysts in        different physical places can cooperate synchronously working on        different devices, in some embodiments; and    -   remote conferences in which one user controls part of the        multi-screen application and affect what happens in other remote        location, in some embodiments.

In some embodiments, the system includes a modular architecture. In someembodiments, different data modules (that could be analytical, visualand often interactive) connect to share information. A group of datamodules are grouped, forming a layout, and produce a data application (aBI dashboard, or an interactive visualization). The user interaction ona single module generates new data that may be used by other modules. Anexample configuration of modules is a “cascade of filters”: the modulesare arranged sequentially and each filters data that will be received bythe consecutive one. Other arrangements are possible, such as one inwhich each module is connected to all others.

In some embodiments, the modules connect to one another through anApplications Connector Module. The Applications Connector Module mayreceive data from any other module (e.g., directly, via a WebRTC dataconnection or indirectly via server that manages state for thecross-device session, in some cases via periodic pull request or via apush from the sender, for instance with a duplex connection) and send(e.g., via secure Internet Sockets, for instance with duplexcommunication via Web Sockets, or with the other previously mentionedtechniques) data to other modules, within or outside the device. Thismodule is the connector that facilitates the creation ofmeta-applications, in some embodiments. The module sends and receivesdata formatted in efficient ways.

In some embodiments, each computing device in a given session maydownload from a server, with a browser or special-purpose application inwhich one or more modules are executed, an Application ConnectorModule/Controller and a manifest, listing modules to be executed at therespective device (which may be parsed and the corresponding modules maythen be retrieved). A plurality of such devices may form a cross-devicesession, e.g., by registering their port and IP addresses with oneanother or with the server (e.g., in some cases, with a web of WebRTCdata connection to facilitate relatively fast communication that do notneed to pass through a server, or in some cases, by routing theconnections through a server). In some cases, some modules may ingestdata, process the data, and present a view of the data (e.g., agraphical visualization) with various user inputs (and correspondingevent handlers) with which users may interact. In some embodiments,users in a session may have various roles (which may change over time insome cases), e.g., a user in a designated role may input a command totheir respective computing device that adds other computer devices to asession and causes those other computing devices to download one or moremodules to effectuate a device-specific data visualization. In somecases, such displays may be scripted in advance, e.g., for apresentation.

In some embodiments, the modular architecture implements an efficientdata format for cross-device data-visualization interactions, describedin the provisional patent applications incorporated by reference above,particularly U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/455,770 entitledEfficient Transformation Data Protocols.

In some embodiments, a user may interact with a user interface on adevice to change a data visualization, e.g., select an icon, change aview on data, zoom/pan in a graph, change which data is displayed, etc.

Some embodiments implement a data model that is expected to be moreefficient than traditional techniques for connecting multiple dataapplications that have access to the same datasets. Instead oftransferring big blocks of data, in some embodiments, the data sent andreceived by the various computing devices (e.g., the connector modulesin the modular architecture described below) describes a series of dataprocesses to obtain the desired dataset from the original ones.

It is common that multiple systems or applications load and processsynchronously the same data. It is less common, but possible, that thoseapplications communicate, and that a transformation processes (such asfiltering) in one application should be replicated across otherapplications. These applications could run in different client-sidecomputers or servers.

Normally, when applying a transformation over a big dataset, even if asystem is filtering or dimension reducing, the resulting dataset isstill quite big. This makes difficult the communication across differentapplications that are meant to be synchronized in respect to thosetransformations, especially if they run in different terminals orservers.

Some embodiments implement a protocol to communicate filtering and otherdata transformation information across different applications, based ona very light data format. This is expected to allow for fastsynchronization on among the connected applications, in someimplementations.

Instead of transferring big blocks of data, in some embodiments, thedata sent and received by the connector module describes a series ofdata processes to obtain the desired dataset from the original ones. Theapp that receives from a user the transformation command quickly spreadsthe light information to the connected apps. The user experience, insome embodiments, is then that the user is interacting upon theconstellation of connected apps, not on a single one.

An example is shown in FIG. 2 . There are two data applications, runningon independent PCs 201, but both working with the same large table 202.In one application, the user filters by selecting a categorical value,e.g., California from a list of States. The resulting table is smallerbut still big. Instead of sending this resulting table to the connecteddata application, the connector module sends the information 203 of howthe large table has being filtered. This information is extremely lightand thus arrives immediately to the second application. The lightness ofthis information is illustrated in FIG. 2 by the thinness of theconnection between the computers. The second data application, runningon the second PC 201, receives the data formatted as filteringinformation, and then a second module executes the filter and producesthe desired table that is sequentially visualized. The user can chooseto change terminals and operate on another screen. The user is actingupon a connected system in which all the parts are synchronized (withnone or barely noticeable delay).

This protocol is, in some embodiments, also suitable to communicatebetween client terminals and servers and is not limited to peer-to-peercommunications applications (this does not suggest any other descriptionwithin the specification is intended to be limiting).

The efficient transformation protocol is, in some embodiments,accompanied by a series of server side and client-side functionalitiesthat, for instance, join multiple filtering and transformation objects,translate these objects to SQL and vice-versa.

In some cases, each computing device may hold in cache memory a data setthat is independent of the data being visualized, e.g., it may be largerthan the data currently depicted by the respective device, and thedepicted data may be a subset of what is in the cache. Embodiments mayreceive a filter (or message indication some other transformation),determine that that indicated transformation can be performed on thedata resident in cache memory, and perform that transformation, in somecases, without incurring a delay by requesting new or different data. Insome cases, a transformation may implicate more data than is resident incache memory, and some embodiments may display a subset of the data,request the remaining data, and update a display as it is received. Insome embodiments, a computing device of a user leading a presentationmay specify data for the other devices in a session to hold in cachememory. As users interact with the data visualizations, it is expectedthat data visualizations may be relatively quickly updated based on thecache data.

In some browser-based implementations, user devices may constrain theamount of memory available for a given domain (e.g., local Storage isoften limited to 5-to-10 MB per domain for security purposes, to preventuntrusted websites from impairing device performance). In someembodiments, additional memory of the client device may be accessed viathe IndexedDB API, which in some cases, may also cause the client deviceto index the data to afford relatively fast queries. In someembodiments, data may be maintained at rest in encrypted format on theclient devices (and sent in encrypted format), e.g., with the WebCryptoAPI in some browser-based implementations.

In some cases, some embodiments may store cache data both in a localStorage object and native cache memory of the browser in order to havemore room for larger data sets. In some cases, localStorage objects aresubstantially faster to access (e.g., with less than ⅓ the latency) thannative browser cache, so some embodiments may arrange data between thesetwo forms of client-side storage to position data more likely to beaccessed in the local Storage object (e.g., data adjacent that currentlydisplayed in a data visualization, either in spatial dimensions of thedisplay to accommodate zooming or panning, or adjacent in a graph toaccommodate pivots).

In some cases, the different displays may be differently sized and thedifferent computing devices may have different computing resources. Someembodiments may perform content negotiation to select modules for adevice based on these resources or select attributes of a display for agiven module based on such factors.

Some embodiments implement an engine that manages the flow of data amonga series of connected modules that receive and deliver data in certainstructures.

Based on a modular data grammar (an example of which is described below)that comprises a small (e.g., less than 30) number of data structures,and a scalable set of modules that convert those data structures intoother data structures, the data modular engine is capable of runningsophisticated data applications, in some embodiments.

Each module, in some embodiments, receives the output of others anddelivers output to others. Each module, in some embodiments, has rulesfor obligatory and optional entrances of data (inlets), and optionaloutcomes of data. Each input and outcome, in some embodiments, belong todata structure from the grammar.

A series of modules, in some embodiments, are then connected forming adirected graph. A simple and typical graph has no loops, and modulescontain only one output. Modules are activated, and deliver data, forone or more of these reasons or others:

-   -   they loaded external data (e.g., a loader module loading a csv        and delivering a table);    -   they capture data from a sensor (e.g., a photovoltaic cell        sending resistance changes through time, and delivering Number        or NumberList);    -   they capture users' behavior (e.g., a module capturing selection        from a list, or mouse position);    -   they periodically send data (e.g., a counter);    -   they commonly receive data, process the data, and deliver        results.

The engine, in some embodiments, receives data coming from outlets anddelivers the data to inlets. But instead of following this processlinearly, in some embodiments, it analyzes the structure of the network,holds part of the data, and wait until other modules process data todeliver. The objective of the engine, in some embodiments, is making itless likely (or avoiding entirely) that a module will be activated morethan once.

FIGS. 5A and 5B show examples of two different cases. In the first caseshown in FIG. 5A, 3 modules are connected in a simple graph. When A isactivated and delivers data, B and C receive the data and are activatedright away. In the second case shown in FIG. 5B, slightly more complex,when A is activated, the engine detects that C will receive the productsof A and B, so instead of activating B and C, it activates only B, andonce B delivers data C is finally activated receiving from A and B. Thisway C was activated only once. The engine manages much more complexcases, always guaranteeing efficient processing, in some embodiments,and in particular activating a module only once, once all the precedentmodules have been activated.

Some embodiments implement this engine in Javascript, but the engine isprogramming language agnostic, and the set of rules can be deployed inany language. In the same vein, modules can be built with anyprogramming language and installed in any type of machine, includingcomputers, servers, phones or any object with a chip, such as anInternet-of-things (IoT) appliance. As long as those modules receive anddeliver data in the form of the mentioned data types conforming the datagrammar, any engine can orchestrate any set of modules in any device.

In an example, two engines (that could be in different machines anddeployed in different programming languages) can cooperate, co-forming ahigher-level engine that operates following the same rules. In otherwords, the engine logics are additive, in some embodiments. An exampleconfiguration may have an engine on a computer co-operating with anengine on a server, orchestrating processes on the computer and on theserver.

Embodiments of this invention are expected to have enormous potentialfor Internet of things, to the extent that a group of devices caninteroperate autonomously if one or more of them run engines, and manyother use cases are contemplated. The engine is a new paradigm ofdistributed computation, in some embodiments.

Some embodiments instantiate a series of data structures (e.g., eachstructure with its own format), along with a series of operations, thatin some embodiments have the following features:

-   -   Independently store information of that data structure (example:        numberList, dateList, point or polygon);    -   Each can be transformed into many others (e.g., date can be        converted into number, by counting milliseconds from a certain        date, and thus, dateList can be transformed into numberList);    -   Some can be joined to form another (by example multiple lists        such as stringLists, dateLists, numberLists, can be assembled to        form a table; and by further example points assemble to form a        polygon);    -   In general, those structures can be combined in meaningful ways.

The number of data structures is small, around 25. This numbercomparable to the number of phonemes in many languages, includingEnglish, the number of characters in many alphabets, and the number ofamino acids that form human proteins, and the comparison is notanecdotal since it seems to define an ideal number that balancessimplicity and overwhelming combinatorial complexity.

Based on this small list of data structures, the grammar is completed bya series of modules that operate with them. These modules come indifferent categories:

-   -   decoders: convert raw data (text) into a data structure (example        csv into table);    -   encoders: convert a data structure into text;    -   transformers: convert a data structure into another (date into        number), usually a reversible operation since information is not        lost on the process;    -   assemblers: take several data structures to create another        (information is preserved);    -   disassemblers: split a data structure into multiple (information        is preserved);    -   operators: take one or multiple data structure to produce a data        structure based on certain algorithm or process (information is        not preserved);    -   controls: receive data structures and allow human intervention        for specific selection, filtering or transformation processes        (e.g., select a range of numbers within a numberList), deliver        data structures;    -   Interactive visualization: receive data structures and produce        interactive visualizations, human intervention produces data        structures.

The data structures, along with the modules, create a grammar in someembodiments. Of note, in some embodiments, every module receives datastructures and delivers at least one data structure. This, in someembodiments, allow for flows of data that are being transformed andenriched and that can (e.g., always) be connected to other modules.

Visualizations are typically ‘dead-ends’ that reach human perception anddo not generate new data, within this grammar, this is no longer thecase in some implementations.

An exemplary implementation is shown in FIG. 6 . Within organizations,when these data structures become internal standards, sharinginformation and connecting systems (analysis and visualization softwareand middleware, databases, interfaces) is expected to become easier, andvia the endless combinatorial possibilities, way more productive. Thesecombinatorial possibilities are shown in FIG. 6 , where the heavy linesshow relations and the lighter lines indicate transformations. Adoptionof this grammar, and any system compatible, fosters acceleration ofprocesses, better communication and better collaboration.

FIG. 1 shows an example use case, in which four different displayscreens display three different views on a data set. Interactions withone of these displays, e.g., to select a given data point or clustericon, may cause the other displays to automatically update to display aresponsive view on the data.

FIG. 8 illustrates an embodiment of a cross-device data visualizationsession system 800 is illustrated. In the illustrated embodiment, thecross-device data visualization session system 800 includes a clientcomputing device 810 and a client computing device 820) (e.g.,autonomous/non-autonomous vehicles, transportation devices, tablets,laptops, smart phones, wearables, and/or other client computing devicesthat would be apparent to one of skill in the art in possession of thepresent disclosure). The client computing devices 810 or 820 may be usedto collect, receive, or send data at the client computing device 810 or820 to or from a central monitoring station for further analysis oraction using common networking and communication techniques, commonlyspecified 5G or subsequently developed adaptive multi-bandwidthapproaches. As such, the client computing device 810 or the clientcomputing device 820 may include communication units having one or moretransceivers to enable the client computing device 810 and the clientcomputing device 820 to communicate with each other or a servercomputing device 840 via a network 850. Accordingly, and as discussed infurther detail below, the client computing device 810 may be incommunication with the client computing device 820 directly orindirectly. As used herein, the phrase “in communication,” includingvariances thereof, encompasses direct communication and/or indirectcommunication through one or more intermediary components and does notrequire direct physical (e.g., wired and/or wireless) communicationand/or constant communication, but rather additionally includesselective communication at periodic or aperiodic intervals, as well asone-time events.

For example, the client computing device 810 or the client computingdevice 820 in the cross-device data visualization session system 800 ofFIG. 8 may include first (e.g., relatively long-range) transceiver(s) topermit the client computing device 810 or the client computing device820 to communicate with the network 850 via a communication connection825 a and a communication connection 825 b. The communication connection825 a may provide a communication channel 828 a between the clientcomputing device 810 and a server computing device 840, and thecommunication connection 825 b may provide a communication channel 828 bbetween the client computing device 820 and the server computing device840. The communication channels 828 a and 828 b may be generatedaccording to a full-duplex communication protocol such as, for example,Web Socket, and/or any other full-duplex communication protocol thatwould be apparent to one of skill in the art in possession of thepresent disclosure. The network 850 may be implemented by an examplemobile cellular network, such as a long-term evolution (LTE) network orother third generation (3G), fourth generation (4G) wireless network, orfifth-generation (5G) wireless network. However, in some examples, thenetwork 850 may be additionally or alternatively be implemented by oneor more other communication networks, such as, but not limited to, asatellite communication network, a microwave radio network, wiredcommunication systems, Wi-Fi communication systems, and/or othercommunication networks.

The client computing device 810 or the client computing device 820additionally may include second (e.g., relatively short-range)transceiver(s) to permit the client computing device 810 or the clientcomputing device 820 to communicate with each other via a directcommunication connection 830. Furthermore, the second transceiver may beused for client computing device-to-client computing devicecommunications between the client computing device 810 and the clientcomputing device 820. In the illustrated example of FIG. 8 , such secondtransceivers are implemented by a type of transceiver supportingrelatively short-range (e.g., operate at distances that are shorter thanthe long-range transceivers) wireless networking. For example, suchsecond transceivers may be implemented by a Wi-Fi transceiver (e.g., viaa Wi-Fi Direct protocol), a Bluetooth® transceiver, an infrared (IR)transceiver, a Zigbee transceiver, and/or other transceivers that areconfigured to allow the client computing device 810 and/or the clientcomputing device 820 to intercommunicate via the communicationconnection 830 or a Local Area Network (LAN).

The cross-device data visualization session system 800 also includes ormay be in communication with a server computing device 840. For example,the server computing device 840 may include one or more servers, storagesystems, cloud computing systems, and/or other computing devices (e.g.,desktop computing device(s), laptop/notebook computing device(s), tabletcomputing device(s), mobile phone(s), etc.). The server computing device840 may be coupled to a cross-device data visualization database 845that is configured to provide repositories such as session members anddevice identifiers, a data set and the data structures for that dataset, instructions, data modules, transformations, and/or any other dataor instructions for cross-device data visualization that would beapparent to one of skill in the art in possession of the presentdisclosure.

Also, the server computing device 840 may be configured tocomputationally process sensor data (e.g., sensor data that includesenvironmental information, client computing device information, user ordata inputs, or other information) received from the client computingdevice 810 or the client computing device 820 and render instructions tothe client computing device 810 or the client computing device 820.While a cross-device data visualization session system 800 has beenillustrated and described, one of skill in the art in possession of thepresent disclosure will recognize that the teachings of the presentdisclosure will be beneficial for a variety of cross-device datavisualization session systems that would be apparent to one of skill inthe art in possession of the present disclosure and, as such, a widevariety of modifications to the number, types, and orientation ofdevices in the cross-device data visualization session system 800 willfall within the scope of the present disclosure as well.

FIG. 9 illustrates an embodiment of a client computing device 900 thatmay be the client computing device 810 or 820 discussed above withreference to FIG. 8 . In the illustrated embodiment, the clientcomputing device 900 includes a chassis 902 that houses the componentsof the client computing device 900. Several of these components areillustrated in FIG. 9 . For example, the chassis 902 may house aprocessing system (not illustrated) and a non-transitory memory system(not illustrated) that includes instructions that, when executed by theprocessing system, cause the processing system to provide a cross-devicedata visualization application 904 that is configured to perform thefunctions of the cross-device data visualization application or theclient computing devices discussed below. The cross-device datavisualization application 904 may include one or more datasub-applications 904 a (also referred to as data modules herein). Thecross-device data visualization application 904 and the datasub-applications 904 a may be distributed across the client computingdevices 810 and 820 of FIG. 8 . The instruction may cause the processingsystem to further provide an application connector controller 905 thatis configured to perform the functions of the application connectorcontrollers, or the client computing devices discussed below. Theapplication connector controller 905 may that receives data from anyother data sub-applications and sends (via a secure Internet Sockets)data to other data sub-applications, within or outside the device. Thisapplication connector controller 905 is the connector that makespossible the creation of meta-applications. The application connectorcontroller 905 sends and receives data formatted in efficient ways.

The chassis 902 may further house a communication system 912 that iscoupled to the cross-device data visualization application 904 or theapplication connector controller 905 (e.g., via a coupling between thecommunication system 912 and the processing system). The communicationsystem 912 may include software or instructions that are stored on acomputer-readable medium and that allow the client computing device 900to send and receive information through the communication network,discussed above. For example, the communication system 912 may include afirst communication interface 914 to provide for communications throughthe network 850 as detailed above (e.g., first (e.g., long-range)transceiver(s)). In an embodiment, the first communication interface 914may be a wireless antenna that is configured to provide communicationswith IEEE 802.11 protocols (Wi-Fi), cellular communications, satellitecommunications, other microwave radio communications and/orcommunications. The communication system 912 may also include a secondcommunication interface 916 that is configured to provide directcommunication with the client computing device 910 or other computingdevices within the physical environment discussed above with respect toFIG. 8 (e.g., second (e.g., relatively short-range) transceiver(s)). Forexample, the second communication interface 916 may be configured tooperate according to wireless protocols such as Bluetooth®, Bluetooth®Low Energy (BLE), near field communication (NFC), infrared dataassociation (IrDA), ANT®, Zigbee®, Z-Wave® IEEE 802.11 protocols(Wi-Fi), and other wireless communication protocols that allow fordirect communication between devices.

The chassis 902 may also house a storage system 918 that is coupled tothe cross-device data visualization application 904 or the applicationconnector controller 905 through the processing system. The storagesystem 918 may store sensor data, a data set and its included one ormore data structures, a data sub-application manifest, transformations,and/or any other instructions and/or information that would be apparentto one of skill in the art in possession of the present disclosure.

In various embodiments, the client computing device 900 may include asensor system 920 that may be housed in the chassis 902 and/or providedon the chassis 902. The sensor system 920 may be coupled to thecross-device data visualization application 904 or the applicationconnector controller 905 via the processing system. The sensor system920 may include one or more sensors that gather sensor data about theclient computing device 900 or the physical environment that may beprovided to the cross-device data visualization application 904 or theapplication connector controller 905. For example, the sensor system 920may include a camera, a proximity sensor, a temperature sensor, aninertial measurement unit (IMU), a geolocation sensor (e.g., a globalpositioning system (GPS), and/or any other sensor that would be apparentto one of skill in the art in possession of the present disclosure.

In various embodiments, the chassis 902 also houses a user input/output(I/O) system 922 that is coupled to the cross-device data visualizationapplication 904 or the application connector controller 905 (e.g., via acoupling between the processing system and the user I/O system 922). Inan embodiment, the user I/O system 922 may be provided by a keyboardinput system, a mouse input system, a track pad input system, a touchinput display system, and/or any other input system. In an embodiment,the user I/O system 922 may include a user output subsystem such as, forexample, a haptic feedback device, a speaker, a light (e.g., an LED)and/or any other user output subsystem that would be apparent to one ofskill in the art in possession of the present disclosure. In variousembodiments, the user I/O system 922 may also include a display system924 that is coupled to the cross-device data visualization application904 or the application connector controller 905 (e.g., via a couplingbetween the processing system and the display system 924). In anembodiment, the display system 924 may be provided by a display devicethat is integrated into the client computing device 900 and thatincludes a display screen (e.g., a display screen on a laptop/notebookcomputing device, a tablet computing device, a mobile phone, or wearabledevice), or by a display device that is coupled directly to the clientcomputing device 900 (e.g., a display device coupled to the clientcomputing device 900 by a cabled or wireless connection). While a clientcomputing device 900 has been illustrated and described, one of skill inthe art in possession of the present disclosure will recognize that theteachings of the present disclosure will be beneficial for a variety ofclient computing devices and, as such, a wide variety of modificationsto the number, types, and orientation of devices and modules in theclient computing device will fall within the scope of the presentdisclosure as well.

Referring now to FIG. 10 , an embodiment of a server computing device1000 is illustrated that may be the server computing device 840discussed above with reference to FIG. 8 . In various embodiments, theserver computing device 1000 includes one or more server. For example,the server computing device 1000 may provide the cross-device datavisualization application 904 or the application connector controller905 for the client computing device 900. In the illustrated embodiment,the server computing device 1000 includes a chassis 1002 that houses thecomponents of the server computing device 1000, only some of which areillustrated in FIG. 10 . For example, the chassis 1002 may house aprocessing system (not illustrated) and a non-transitory memory system(not illustrated) that includes instructions that, when executed by theprocessing system, cause the processing system to provide a cross-devicedata visualization application 1004 that is configured to perform thefunctions of the cross-device data visualization applications or theserver computing devices discussed below. The cross-device datavisualization application 1004 may include one or more datasub-applications 1004 a (also referred to as data modules herein). Thecross-device data visualization application 1004 and the datasub-applications 1004 a may be distributed across the client computingdevices 810 and 820 and the server computing device 840 of FIG. 8 . Theinstruction may cause the processing system to further provide anapplication connector controller 1005 that is configured to perform thefunctions of the application connector controllers, or the servercomputing devices discussed below.

The chassis 1002 may further house a communication system 1006 that iscoupled to the cross-device data visualization application 1004 or theapplication connector controller 1005 (e.g., via a coupling between thecommunication system 1006 and the processing system) and that isconfigured to provide for communication through the network 850 asdetailed below. The communication system 1006 may allow the servercomputing device 840 to send and receive information over the network850 of FIG. 8 . The chassis 1002 may also house a storage device (notillustrated) that provides a storage system 1008 (e.g., the cross-devicedata visualization database 845 of FIG. 8 ) that is coupled to thecross-device data visualization application 1004 or the applicationconnector controller 1005 through the processing system. The storagesystem 1008 may be configured to sensor data, a data set and itsincluded one or more data structures, a data sub-application manifest,transformations, and/or any other instructions and/or information thatwould be apparent to one of skill in the art in possession of thepresent disclosure. While a specific server computing device 1000 hasbeen illustrated and described, one of skill in the art in possession ofthe present disclosure will recognize that the teachings of the presentdisclosure will be beneficial for a variety of server computing devicesthat would be apparent to one of skill in the art in possession of thepresent disclosure and, as such, a wide variety of modifications to thenumber, types, and orientation of devices and modules in the servercomputing device 1000 will fall within the scope of the presentdisclosure as well.

FIG. 11 depicts an embodiment of a method 1100 of cross-devicevisualization, which in some embodiments may be implemented with thecomponents of FIGS. 8, 9, and 10 discussed above. As discussed below,some embodiments make technological improvements to content management,websites, cross-device visualizations, and other technology areas. Themethod 1100 is described as being performed by the cross-device datavisualization application 1004 and the application connector controller1005 on the server computing device 1000. Furthermore, it iscontemplated that the cross-device data visualization application 904and the application connector controller 905 on the client computingdevice 810 or 820 may include some or all the functionality of thecross-device data visualization application 1004 and the applicationconnector controller 1005. As such, some or all of the steps of themethod 1100 may be performed by the client computing device 810 or 820and still fall under the scope of the present disclosure. As mentionedabove, the server computing device 1000 may include one or moreprocessors or one or more servers, and thus the method 1100 may bedistributed across the those one or more processors or the one or moreservers.

The method 1100 may begin at block 1102 where identifiers of a set ofclient computing devices to participate in a cross-device datavisualization session are received. In an embodiment, at block 1102,each client computing device 810 or 820 may be provided to join across-device data visualization session. The client computing device 810and 820, as well as other client computing devices, may form thecross-device data visualization session. For example, the clientcomputing devices 810 or 820 may download from the server computingdevice 840, with a browser or special-purpose application, theapplication connector controller 905 and, in some embodiments, amanifest that lists data modules or one or more data sub-applications904 a to be executed at the respective device (which may be parsed andthe corresponding data sub-applications 904 a may then be retrieved). Asdiscussed above, the data sub-application(s) 904 a for a respectiveclient computing device 810 or 820 may be installed to form thecross-device data visualization application 904/1004, which may spanacross a plurality of client computing devices 810 and up to 820 and theserver computing device 840. In some cases, some data sub-applications904 a may ingest data, process the data, and present a view of the data(e.g., a graphical visualization) with various user inputs (andcorresponding event handlers) with which users may interact.

In various embodiments, the client computing devices 810 and 820 mayregister their port and IP addresses or other identifiers with oneanother or with the server computing device 840 (e.g., in some cases,with a web of WebRTC data connections to facilitate relatively fastcommunication that do not need to pass through the server computingdevice 840, or in some cases, by routing the connections through theserver computing device 840). In some embodiments, users in across-device data visualization session may have various roles (whichmay change over time in some cases), (e.g., a user in a designated rolemay input a command to their respective client computing device thatadds other client computer devices to a cross-device visualizationsession and causes those other client computing devices to download oneor more data sub-applications 904 a to effectuate a device-specific datavisualization. In some cases, such displays may be scripted in advance,e.g., for a presentation.

Some embodiments implement the application connector controller 905 inJavascript, but the application connector controller 905 may beprogramming language agnostic, and the set of rules can be deployed inany language. Similarly, data sub-applications 904 a may be built withany programming language and installed in any type of computing device,including computers, servers, phones or any object with a chip, such asan Internet-of-things (IoT) appliance. As long as those datasub-applications 904 a receive and deliver data in the form of thementioned data types conforming the data grammar, any applicationconnector controller 905/1005 may orchestrate any set of datasub-applications 904 a/1004 a in any computing device.

In an example, two application connector controllers 905 (that could bein different machines and deployed in different programming languages)can cooperate, co-forming a higher-level engine that operates followingthe same rules. In other words, the engine logics are additive, in someembodiments. An example configuration may have an engine on a clientcomputing device 810 co-operating with an engine on a server computingdevice 840, orchestrating processes on the client computing devices 810or 820 and on the server computing device 840.

In some embodiments, the client computing devices 810 and 820 mayperform data sub-application negotiations to select one or more datasub-applications 904 a for that client computing device 810 and 820based on resources or select attributes of a client computing device fora given data sub-application 904 a based on such factors. For example,the client computing devices 810 and 820 may have different displaysthat may be differently sized and the different client computing devices810 and 820 may have different computing resources. As such, datasub-applications 904 a that will operate best for a particular clientcomputing device 810 or 820 may be selected by the applicationsconnector module 905/1005 for each client computing device 810 or 820.

The method 1100 may then proceed to block 1104 where a data set is sentto each of the computing devices and instructions to display a firstportion of the data set is also sent. In an embodiment at block 1104,the application connector controller 905 may provide a data set for thecross-device data visualization application 904 to each of the datasub-applications 904 a running on the various client computing devices810 and 820.

Some embodiments instantiate a data set with a series of data structures(e.g., each structure with its own format), along with a series ofoperations. For example, the data structures may independently storeinformation of that data structure (e.g., numberList, dateList, point orpolygon); each data structure may be transformed into many others (e.g.,date can be converted into number, by counting milliseconds from acertain date, and thus, dateList can be transformed into numberList);some data structures may be joined to form another (e.g., multiple listssuch as stringLists, dateLists, numberLists, can be assembled to form atable; and by further example points assemble to form a polygon); orother operations that operate on a data structure that would be apparentone of skill in the art in possession of the present disclosure. In someembodiments, the number of data structures may be small, around 25. Thisnumber comparable to the number of phonemes in many languages, includingEnglish, the number of characters in many alphabets, and the number ofamino acids that form human proteins, and the comparison is notanecdotal since it seems to define an ideal number that balancessimplicity and overwhelming combinatorial complexity.

Instructions to display at least a portion of the data set may be sentto each data sub-application 904 a. In some embodiments, the portion mayinclude one or more data structures of the plurality of data structuresin the data set. In some embodiments, each data sub-application 904 amay include instructions to display data from a data set. In someembodiments, the server computing device 840 may provide theinstructions or the data set to the respective data sub- applications904 a in each client computing device 810 or 820 via the network 850.However, in some embodiments, the client computing device 810 may sendthe instructions or data set to the client computing device 820 via thecommunication channels 828 a and 828 b that may have been created wheneach client computing device 810 and 820 joined the cross-device datavisualization session. For example, the communication channels 828 a and828 b may be provided by WebSockets, other full-duplex communicationprotocols, or other secure connections. In other embodiments, the dataset or the instructions may be provided via the local communicationconnection 830.

The instructions may cause the data sub-application 904 a included onthe client computing device 810 to display a first portion (e.g., one ormore data structures or portions of one or more data structures) of thedata set as a first data visualization. The instructions may cause thedata sub-application 904 a running on the client computing device 810 todisplay a second portion of the data set as a second data visualization.Other data sub-applications 904 a included on the client computingdevices 810 or 820 may display other portions of the data set asadditional data visualizations such that the client computing devices810 or 820 may display multiple data visualizations on the same display.In other words, a data visualization may be generated for thecross-device data visualization application 904 that is operating acrossthe client computing devices 810 and 820 and each data sub-application904 a may operate to display a respective portion of the datavisualization for the cross-device data visualization application 904according to instructions for that data sub-application 904 a.

The method 1100 may then proceed to block 1106 where an interaction isreceived with one of the identified computing devices requesting atleast some of the other identified computing devices to display asecond, at least partially different, portion of the data set. In anembodiment, at block 1106, an interaction may be received at one of thedata sub-applications 904 a that makes up the cross-device datavisualization application 904. In various embodiments, the interactionmay include a loaded external data by a data sub-application 904 a(e.g., a loader module loading a csv and delivering a table); datacaptured from a sensor (e.g., a photovoltaic cell sending resistancechanges through time, and delivering Number or NumberList to a datasub-application 904 a); captured user inputs (e.g., a datasub-application 904 a capturing a user input via user I/O system 922);periodically generated data (e.g., a data sub-application 904 a thatacts as a counter); a data sub-application 904 a receiving data,processing the data, and delivering results; or any other interactionthat would be apparent to one of skill in the art in possession of thepresent disclosure. The interaction with one data sub-application 904 amay cause instructions for that data sub-application 904 a to identifyother data sub-applications 904 a from the data sub-application manifestthat requires propagation of the interaction.

The method 1100 may then proceed to block 1108 where an instruction issent to display the second, at least partially different portion of thedata set to the at least some of the other identified computing devices.In an embodiment, at block 1108, the application connector controller905/1005 may provide an instruction to the various data sub-applications904 a on the client computing devices 810 and 820 to display at least apartially different portion of the data set, which may include anupdated data set based on a data input. As discussed above, each datasub-application 904 a, in some embodiments, receives the output ofothers and delivers output to others. Each data sub-application 904 a,in some embodiments, has rules for obligatory and optional entrances ofdata (inlets), and optional outcomes of data. Each input and outcome, insome embodiments, may belong to a data structure from the grammar. Insome embodiments, the data sub-applications 904 a may be in seriesforming a directed graph. In some embodiments, the directed graph has noloops and data sub-applications 904 a include only one output such thata data change does not perpetually cause the data sub-applications 904 ato update the data set.

Some embodiments implement a data model that is expected to be moreefficient than traditional techniques for connecting multiple dataapplications that have access to the same datasets. Instead oftransferring big blocks of data, in some embodiments, the data sent andreceived by the client computing devices 810 or 820 describes a seriesof data processes to obtain the desired data set from the original ones.Thus, while multiple data modules may load and process synchronously thesame data, embodiments of the present disclosure provide a protocol thatmay cause the data sub-applications 904 a to communicate atransformation processes (such as filtering) in one data sub-applicationshould be replicated across other data sub-applications that may run indifferent client computing devices or server computing devices. Someembodiments implement a protocol to communicate filtering and other datatransformation information across different applications, based on avery light data format. This is expected to allow for fastsynchronization on among the connected applications, in someimplementations.

Instead of transferring big blocks of data, in some embodiments, thedata sent and received by the application connector controller 905/1005describes a series of data processes to obtain the desired data set fromthe original ones. The data sub-application 904 a that receives from auser the transformation command quickly spreads the light information tothe connected data sub-applications 904 a. The user experience, in someembodiments, is then that the user is interacting upon the constellationof data sub-applications 904 a, not on a single one.

The efficient transformation protocol, in some embodiments, may beaccompanied by a series of server-side and client-side functionalitiesthat, for instance, join multiple filtering and transformation objects,translate these objects to SQL and vice-versa. In some embodiments, eachclient computing devices 810 or 820 may hold in cache memory a data setthat is independent of the data being visualized (e.g., it may be largerthan the data currently depicted by the respective device, and thedepicted data may be a subset of what is in the cache). A datasub-application 904 a may receive a filter (or message indication someother transformation), determine that that indicated transformation canbe performed on the data resident in cache memory, and perform thattransformation, in some cases, without incurring a delay by requestingnew or different data. In some cases, a transformation may implicatemore data than is resident in cache memory, and some embodiments maydisplay a subset of the data, request the remaining data from anotherdata sub- application 904 a or the cross-device data visualizationdatabase 845, and update a display as it is received. In someembodiments, a client computing device of a user leading a presentationmay specify data for the other client computing devices in across-device data visualization session to hold in cache memory. Asusers interact with the data visualizations, it is expected that datavisualizations may be relatively quickly updated based on the cachedata.

In some browser-based implementations, user devices may constrain theamount of memory available for a given domain (e.g., local Storage isoften limited to 5-to-10 MB per domain for security purposes, to preventuntrusted websites from impairing device performance). In someembodiments, additional memory of the client computing device 810 or 820may be accessed via the IndexedDB API, which in some cases, may alsocause the client computing devices 810 or 820 to index the data toafford relatively fast queries. In some embodiments, data may bemaintained at rest in encrypted format on the client devices (and sentin encrypted format), e.g., with the WebCrypto API in some browser-basedimplementations.

In some embodiments, client computing devices 810 or 820 may store cachedata both in a localStorage object and native cache memory of thebrowser in order to have more room for larger data sets. In some cases,localStorage objects are substantially faster to access (e.g., with lessthan 1/3 the latency) than native browser cache. As such, in someembodiments, the application connector controller 905 may arrange databetween these two forms of client-side storage to position data morelikely to be accessed in the localStorage object (e.g., data adjacentthat currently displayed in a data visualization, either in spatialdimensions of the display to accommodate zooming or panning, or adjacentin a graph to accommodate pivots).

In various embodiments, the data sub-applications 904 a may include afirst website or application accessible at a first domain and a secondwebsite or application accessible at a second domain. As such,embodiments of method 1500 of FIG. 15 may be incorporated into method1100 such that multiple websites or applications that share the samedata sub-application window may exchange data according to method 1500and share data between data sub-applications 904 a hosted on variousclient computing devices 810 or 820.

The method 1100 may then proceed to block 1110 where the second, atleast partially different, portion of the data set is displayed at theat least some of the other identified computing devices. In anembodiment, at block 1110, the one or more data sub-applications 904 athat received the instruction to display the second, at least partiallydifferent, portion of the data display the second portion of the dataset on a display included in the display system 924 included on theclient computing device 810 or 820. For example, the display of theclient computing device 810 may have displayed a first portion of thedata set according to a first data sub-application 904 a and the displayof the client computing device 820 may have displayed a second portionof the data set according to the second data sub-application 904 a.During the method 1100, the user of the client computing device 810 mayprovide an input to the data visualization on the display of thecomputing device 810 provided by the first data sub-application, whichmay cause an instruction to be generated and provided to the second datasub-application 904 a on the client computing device 820 to display athird portion of the data set, which, in some embodiments, may include atransformation of the second portion of the data set to the thirdportion of the data set. As a result, the client computing device 810may provide an updated data visualization based on the input and theclient computing device 810 may provide an updated data visualizationbased on the third portion of the data set. As such, the clientcomputing devices 810 and 820 may display different aspects of datavisualization that spans multiple computing devices.

As described above, FIG. 1 illustrates another example of thecross-device data visualization, in which four different display screensdisplay three different views on a data set. Interactions with one ofthese displays, e.g., to select a given data point or cluster icon, maycause the other displays to automatically update to display a responsiveview on the data.

Thus, systems and methods of the present disclosure provide forcross-device data visualization. By implementing a modular architectureand a transformation protocol, latency in cross-device datavisualizations may be reduced. As such, user experiences may beenhanced, and large data sets may be used in cross-device datavisualizations. These and other technical improvements may be apparentto one of skill in the art in possession of the present disclosure.

2. Application Layer Protocols

Some embodiments implement a connection protocol that allows datatransfer communication among websites, and thus, has the potential toopen a new network of websites within the world-wide web, with websitesinterchanging information and opening new and powerful capabilities.Embodiments include computing devices and code (affixed to a tangible,non-transitory, machine-readable medium) configured to process theprotocol, comply with the protocol, and provide the affordancesdiscussed below.

In some embodiments, the connection protocol is based on alreadyexisting commands and standards to communicate a website with anotherthat is embedded.

In some embodiments, the protocol based on a series of data formats(lists, tables, networks, etc.) that will ease and make useful thesharing of data. Websites that have WWW connection protocol capabilitiesare called Data Connected Websites (DCW).

In some embodiments, any website that is a data application (dashboard,visualization or data analysis) can be used as a module/sub-applicationto build another data application that can contain it. If multiple DCWsdeliver and receive the same data format, they can be used together in anew, higher level, DCW, in some cases. There is no limit for the numberof levels (DCWs within DCWs interminably), in some implementations.

DCWs have the capabilities of normal websites, but additionally, theyare prepared to be activated differently if data is sent to them. DCWsin some embodiments include a function that provides an interface bywhich the DCW is called. In some embodiments, the logic (or a portionthereof) of a DCW may be provided by a browser extension previouslyinstalled. In some cases, the websites may be sent with both markup(e.g., HTML) and scripts (e.g., JavaScript™). In some embodiments, thescripts (or a browser, or browser plugin) may include an event handlerthat is called by the browser upon one of the following events. In somecases, the various event handlers may be executed asynchronously fromother aspects of the website.

onDataReceived

In some embodiments, an onDataRecieved event occurs, and a functional ofthat name is called, when data is received within the protocoldescribed, e.g., when initializing a display or updating a display.Whenever this function is called with properly formatted data, thewebsite may use the data to execute new outcomes (e.g., update/create aDOM, virtual DOM, or element thereof, such as a canvas element).

In some embodiments, the website could contain a function as follows.

sendDataToParent

A sendDataToParent function, may return data to a parent (e.g.,linked-to) webpage, so communication could be bi-directional.

Adding the data connection protocol may be implemented with existinghtml standards, such as with web Sockets and WebRTC data connections.

In some embodiments, a community of developers and designers may startdeveloping DCWs, these will be combinable, creating synergies andbuilding a rich network of websites that can be combined in virtuallyinfinite ways.

Typically, data websites, such as dashboards, or visualizations, aredead ends: they receive data, display some outcomes, but do not deliverdata. Also, conventionally, a data website receives one single dataset,or multiple possible datasets via APIs, but never expect data comingexternally. With this new protocol, websites will be connected in aradical new way, creating rich flows of information, allowing forunexpected combinations.

In some embodiments, two or more DCWs are embedded into iFrames within awebsite called the parent website. The parent website can thencommunicate with each DCW, sending and receiving data. It can then takedata from one DCW and send it to another DCW, etc. creating flows ofdata among all the DCWs.

In some cases, browsers prevent client-side exchanges of informationbetween domains for security purposes due to a same-origin policy. Someembodiments may affect communication by message passing via servers. Orsome embodiments may achieve lower-latency client-side communicationthrough postMessage messaging (e.g., without sending the message outsideof the client device). In some embodiments, code from one domain maymessage another domain with a message including the content of thedomain and a targetDomain. Some embodiments may include event handlersin code sent from each domain configured to receive message events andprocessing the messages.

When different developers create different DCWs that process, analyzeand visualize data in multiple different ways, it will be possible tocreate entire rich data applications, websites that combine the power ofindividual developments. Websites will be created in a way they are alsoopen to data to come and be delivered.

By example, the image of FIG. 3 shows a website called Earth, thatvisualizes wind currents, and that contains the connection protocol,being connected to another website that displays a map. By interactingin the map (zooming, dragging) a geographic region is defined and sentto the Earth website, that will use these new coordinates to display thedesired location. A third simple website contains some simple html textarea fields and selectors, to allow the user to define some parametersthat are also sent to Earth and modify its outcome. The three websitesare located in different servers.

Some embodiments implement a process that is extremely useful as a firststep when starting analysis of a dataset. Some embodiments include ameta analytical process that provides perspective and insight forsubsequent analysis. Some embodiments remain agnostic to subsequentforms of analysis by only analysis at the structure of the data and notits contents. This approach is expected to work well even if the datahas categorical variables, numerical variables or a combination of both.It also is expected to work well with numeric and categorical variableswith holes (null values).

In some embodiments, the result of this process is a network thatindicates:

-   -   hierarchical relations among variables, absolute or graded, when        they exist;    -   hierarchical sequences of variables; an obvious example will be        continent, country, region, city, zip code, etc., the method        reveals these kind of sequences, and also nonobvious sequences        of hierarchies;    -   to what extent a variable is a good predictor of any other        variable (how much knowing the value of a variable increases the        probability of knowing the value of another). In absolute or        strong hierarchical cases this relation is absolutely or        strongly unidirectional: knowing the value of one variable        indicates the value in the other one.

As an example, in a table with city and zip as variables, knowing thezip value determines the city value. The opposite is not necessarilytrue. More mildly, in a table of cancer patients, knowing the type ofcancer is in general a good indicator of gender (since many cancer typesare associated with exclusively male or female tissues and organs); andknowing the gender also improves the probability of guessing the type ofcancer, but to a lower extent. Finally, if two variables are stronglycorrelated, the relations are strong and bidirectional.

This predictability network is extremely useful and believed to providefast insight to data stake holders. Typically, analysis starts byanalyzing individual variables, and then certain combinations ofvariables. But what combinations are meaningful, seems to be somethingdecided a priori, from preconceptions. This way, meaningful relations(including positive and negative correlations) are lost, as well asworth to analyze combinations. Colinearity can come in groups of threeor more variables, and the combinatoric space is immense (at least abovecertain small number or variables: for n variables the combinations are(n+1)!, thus 10 variables produce around 40 million possible variablessubsets). The network, when visualized, in some embodiments, provides aninstant wholistic perspective on the data, with clusters that indicatecollinearity groups.

This network could be visualized and provide, at a glance, a very goodstructure of the dataset. It also points to meaningful extractions andrearrangements of the data. For example, when a hierarchical sequence isfound, it can produce a tree (later visualized as a Treemap).

A variety of approaches may be used to determine how much a variable ispredictable. In some cases, a variable is very predictable if it hasmany variables that strongly predict it. But if those variables arethemselves predictables, it adds up for the initial variablepredictability. And etcetera. For this reason, the nodes in this networkmay be weighed using the pageRank metric described Brin, S.; Page, L.(1998). “The anatomy of a large-scale hypertextual Web search engine”(PDF). Computer Networks and ISDN Systems. 30: 107-117.doi:10.1016/S0169-7552(98)00110-X. ISSN 0169-7552. A variable is deemedpredictable (has high weight) when is predicted by variables that arepredictable (have high weight). Some embodiments may generatevisualization by which one can see immediately which are the ‘predatorsin the food network’ of predictability, and the variables that areintractable. Another way to see this is that highly predictablevariables contain redundant information already present (at least in bigpart) in the other variables, these variables can be labeled as central;inversely, variables with low predictability are affected by externalfactors, they bring information from aspects not present in the dataset,they could be called peripheral.

In some embodiments implementing the infoGain construction, categoricalvariables can be compared with numeric ones. In some cases, there is asegmentation process on the numeric variables, typically by calculatingquantiles or equally spaced intervals (other methods are possible). Asan example, in the cancer table, if ages are segmented this way: 0-20,21-40, 41-60, and so on, cancer type could have strong correlation withages, since certain cancer types have higher incidence in certain agesegments (e.g., lymphoblastic leukemia in 0-20, prostate cancer in61-80). Once broad correlations are detected on numeric variablestreated as categories, it is possible to refine with differentsegmentations, or jump to different types of analysis that do notrequire segmentation.

Finally, the information gain network is based on the information gainmetric, typically used in decision trees, that is itself based in thecalculation of entropy of categorical variables. The Information GainNetwork Analysis is highly influenced by his Information Theory andgeneral thinking.

To these ends, some embodiments may execute the following process:

-   1. convert all numeric dimensions categorically, by segmenting them    (e.g., a safe initial step, recommended as default, could be finding    the 10 deciles for each numeric variable);-   2. calculate entropy for all variables;-   3. calculate for each pair of variables A,B the two information gain    values ig(A,B) and ig(B,A), that indicate how much entropy decreases    when one split one variable using the values of the other;-   4. for each information gain value, above a certain predefined    threshold, create a directed relation;-   5. calculate the pageRank weight for each node, e.g., by forming an    adjacency matrix of the parameters and degerming an eigenvector    based on the adjacency matrix. Other embodiments may use other    centrality measures for network analysis, such as degree centrality,    closeness centrality, betweenness centrality, subgraph centrality    and Katz centrality.

With these steps, some embodiments may generate a visualization likethat shown in FIG. 4 . As shown, visualizing the network providesholistic insight about the data.

In some embodiments, an interactive visualization for the informationnetwork displays each node with area proportional to its weight, colorsrepresenting different values, and connecting lines with thicknessproportional to information gain value. Some embodiments may receive aselection of two nodes and respond by finding and displaying theshortest paths (e.g., ranked by distance).

FIG. 12 illustrates an embodiment of an application data exchange system1200 according to various embodiments. In an embodiment, the applicationdata exchange system 1200 may include a client computing device 1202coupled to a network 1204. Furthermore, the application data exchangesystem 1200 may include one or more server computing devices (e.g., aserver computing device 1206 and a server computing device 1208) coupledto the network 1204. In a specific example, the server computing device1206 or the server computing device 1208 may host one or more websitesor applications, the client computing device 1202 may be configured sendor receive data between websites that are displayed on a web browser orother application running on the client computing device 1202. While aspecific example of the application data exchange system 1200 isillustrated, one of skill in the art in possession of the presentdisclosure will recognize that a wide variety of application dataexchange systems having various configurations of networks, userdevices, and service provider devices that may operate to provide thesystems and methods discussed herein without departing from the scope ofthe present disclosure.

FIG. 13 illustrates an embodiment of a client computing device 1300 thatmay be the client computing device 1202 discussed above with referenceto FIG. 12 , and which may be provided by a desktop computing system, alaptop/notebook computing system, a tablet computing system, a mobilephone, a wearable device, or other client computing device that would beapparent to one of skill in the art in possession of the presentdisclosure. However, one of skill in the art in possession of thepresent disclosure will recognize that the client computing device 1300may be provided by any of a variety of computing devices in thedifferent examples discussed below. In the illustrated embodiment, theclient computing device 1300 includes a chassis 1302 that houses thecomponents of the client computing device 1300, only some of which areillustrated in FIG. 13 . For example, the chassis 1302 may house aprocessing system (not illustrated) and a non-transitory memory system(not illustrated) that includes instructions that, when executed by theprocessing system, cause the processing system to provide an applicationcontroller 1304 that is configured to perform the functions of theapplication controllers and client computing devices discussed below. Ina specific example, the application controller 1304 is configured toprovide a browser application 1304 a and a data exchange controller 1304b, discussed below, although one of skill in the art in possession ofthe present disclosure will recognize that other applications andcomputing device functionality may be enabled by the applicationcontroller 1304 as well.

The chassis 1302 may further house a communication system 1308 that iscoupled to the application controller 1304 (e.g., via a coupling betweenthe communication system 1308 and the processing system). Thecommunication system 1308 may include software or instructions that arestored on a computer-readable medium and that allow the client computingdevice 1300 to send and receive information over the network 1204. Thechassis 1302 may also house a storage system that includes anapplication database 1310 that is coupled to the application controller1304 (e.g., via a coupling between the storage system and the processingsystem). The application database 1310 may store a website, anapplication, data utilized in a website or application or otherinformation or instructions. While the application database 1310 hasbeen illustrated as housed in the chassis 1302 of the client computingdevice 1300, one of skill in the art will recognize that the applicationdatabase 1310 may be connected to the application controller 1304through the network 1204 without departing from the scope of the presentdisclosure. While a specific client computing device 1300 has beenillustrated, one of skill in the art in possession of the presentdisclosure will recognize that client computing devices (or otherdevices operating according to the teachings of the present disclosurein a manner similar to that described below for the client computingdevice 1300) may include a variety of components and/or componentconfigurations for providing conventional computing devicefunctionality, as well as the functionality discussed below, whileremaining within the scope of the present disclosure as well.

FIG. 14 illustrates an embodiment of a server computing device 1400 thatmay be the server computing device 1206 or 1208 discussed above withreference to FIG. 12 , and which may be provided by one or more serverdevices. In the illustrated embodiment, the server computing device 1400includes a chassis 1402 that houses the components of the servercomputing device 1400, only some of which are illustrated in FIG. 14 .For example, the chassis 1402 may house a processing system (notillustrated) and a non-transitory memory system (not illustrated) thatincludes instructions that, when executed by the processing system,cause the processing system to provide a server application controller1404 that is configured to perform the functions of the applicationcontrollers and service provider devices discussed below. In a specificexample, the server application controller 1404 is configured to providea web application 1406 (e.g., an application for a native application oran application for a browser application) discussed below, although oneof skill in the art in possession of the present disclosure willrecognize that other applications and computing device functionality maybe enabled by the server application controller 1404 as well.

The chassis 1402 may further house a communication system 1408 that iscoupled to the server application controller 1404 (e.g., via a couplingbetween the communication system 1408 and the processing system) andthat is configured to provide for communication through the network 1204as detailed below. The chassis 1402 may also house a storage system thatincludes an application database 1410 that is coupled to the serverapplication controller 1404 (e.g., via a coupling between the storagesystem and the processing system). The application database 1410 maystore web pages, images, videos, audio, other content, user profiles,user identifiers, user permissions, and/or other data used by the serverapplication controller 1404 to provide services and perform theapplication data exchange functionality discussed below. While theapplication database 1410 has been illustrated as housed in the chassis1402 of the server computing device 1400, one of skill in the art willrecognize that the application database 1410 may be connected to theserver application controller 1404 through the network 1204 withoutdeparting from the scope of the present disclosure. While a specificserver computing device 1400 has been illustrated, one of skill in theart in possession of the present disclosure will recognize that serverdevices (or other devices operating according to the teachings of thepresent disclosure in a manner similar to that described below for theserver computing device 1400) may include a variety of components and/orcomponent configurations for providing conventional computing devicefunctionality, as well as the functionality discussed below, whileremaining within the scope of the present disclosure as well.

FIG. 15 depicts an embodiment of a method 1500 of data exchange betweenwebsites, which in some embodiments may be implemented with thecomponents of FIGS. 12, 13, and 14 discussed above. As discussed below,some embodiments make technological improvements to content management,websites, native applications, and other technology areas. The method1500 is described as being performed by the application controller 1304on the client computing device 1202/1300. Furthermore, it iscontemplated that the server application controller 1404 on the servercomputing devices 1206 or 1208 may include some or all the functionalityof the application controller 1304. As such, some or all of the steps ofthe method 1500 may be performed by the server computing device 1206 or1208/1400 and still fall under the scope of the present disclosure. Asmentioned above, the server computing device 1400 may include one ormore processors or one or more servers, and thus the method 1500 may bedistributed across the those one or more processors or the one or moreservers.

The method 1500 may begin at block 1502 where a client computing deviceis operating a first webpage accessible at a first domain and a secondwebpage accessible at a second domain. In an embodiment, at block 1502,the browser application 1304 a on the client computing device 1202/1300may be running a first webpage that is accessible at a first domain anda second webpage that is accessible at a second domain. For example, onewebpage may be accessible at “www.servicel.com” while the other webpagemay be accessible at “www.service2.com.” However, in other embodiments,any application (e.g., a native application) provided by the applicationcontroller 1304 may run the webpages or other application views that areaccessible via different domains.

In some embodiments, the first webpage and the second webpage may beincluded in the same window of the browser application 1304 a. Forexample, the second webpage may be embedded in the first webpage. Theembedding of the second webpage into the first webpage may beaccomplished using HyperText Markup Language (HTML) iframes. In someembodiments, the first webpage may embed the second webpage and a thirdwebpage. In yet other embodiments, the first webpage may embed thesecond webpage that embeds the third webpage. While embedded webpagesare discussed, in other embodiments, it is contemplated that the firstwebpage and the second webpage may be open in different windows or tabsof the browser application 1304 a. Further still, one of skill in theart in possession of the present disclosure, will recognize that variouscombinations of embedding than described above with fewer or morewebpages may be contemplated.

The webpages may include conventional webpage functionality, butadditionally, the webpages may be prepared to be activated differentlyif data is sent to them. In some embodiments, the webpages include afunction that provides an interface by which the webpage is called. Insome embodiments, the logic (or a portion thereof) of a webpage may beprovided by a browser extension previously installed (e.g., the dataexchange controller 1304 b). In some cases, the webpages may be sentwith both markup (e.g., HTML) and scripts (e.g., JavaScript™). In someembodiments, the scripts (or a browser, or browser plugin) may includethe data exchange controller 1304 b (e.g., an event handler) that iscalled by the browser application 1304 a. In some cases, the variousevent handlers may be executed asynchronously from other aspects of thewebpage. In various embodiments, the function that provides theinterface by which the webpage is called may include a receive function(e.g., “onDataReceived”) or a send function (e.g., “sendDataToParent”).

For example, onDataReceived is a function that data webpages of thepresent disclosure may have because it is through this function thatdata will arrive. The data webpage may operate (display information,allow interaction) even before receiving data through onDataReceived butin general the webpage may be active once this function is called froman external source (another data webpage, or the wedge that embeds it).The types of objects onDataReceived can receive depends on thearchitecture of the data webpage. For example, a configuration mayinclude an object with two properties: type and value. The property typemay include a short string and indicates what kind of data is arrivingto the webpage, common cases are: “configuration”, “data”, “select”. Ifthe type is “configuration,” the value may be an object that containsconfiguration information, (e.g., color background, or what kind ofmodel or visualization the webpage will use, etc.). If type is “data,”the value may include the data to be analyzed or visualized. If the typeis “select”, the value may be to indicate the webpage that it willperform an action, for example, selecting an item, whose ID would beindicated in the value. The examples above indicate that onDataReceivedis used to pass data to a data webpage, define its configuration(aspect, behavior . . . ), or externally control its behavior.onDataReceived could be called only once (for instance to send thedata), or as many times is required, for instance to pass different datain different moments (including a constant stream of data), or changethe data webpage configuration, or control it.

The send function, sendDataToParent, may provide a function that isinjected into the data webpage by the embedder, so it can be used tosend information. Equivalent to onDataReceived, a good practice forsending information is sending an object with properties type and value.The data webpage may send data such as an analysis performed by it, or asubset of the data received defined by the user interaction, in thesecases the types could be “result” or “filter”. A data webpage may alsoreport actions performed by the user, such as selecting an item (type“select”, value is id of item).

The following describes two example cases of communication between twodata webpages. In a first example, a user selected an item in DataWebpage A, and through sendDataToParent reports this action(type:“select”, value:itemID). The embedder receives this information,and sends it to onDataReceived in Data Webpage B. Data Webpage Bunderstands that it needs to select an element with id itemID. As suchtwo or more modules are in synch, and when a user selects an element inone data webpage, the user actually does it in all.

In the second example, a user may perform a filter or sub-selection ofdata in Data Webpage A, and sends that data using sendDataToParent (withtype “data” and value the filtered dataset), this information is thensent to Data Webpage B, where the data may be used to visualize oranalyze the subset of data. In this way, a webpage is used as a filtererand the other as visualization. Note that many other webpages mayreceive the filtered information. Also, many filter webpages may becombined to define subsets of data in more complex ways (for instanceone webpage defines a geographic region, another a time interval, andanother some values intervals in a scatter plot).

The method 1500 may then proceed to block 1504 where a data input isreceived at the first webpage. In an embodiment, at block 1504, thefirst webpage may receive a data input. For example, a user may enter avalue into a field, the user may manipulate an application view (e.g.,zoom in or move a map), the user may make a selection from possible datavalues presented on the first webpage, an IoT device may updateenvironmental data displayed by a webpage, or other data inputs thatwould be apparent to one of skill in the art in possession of thepresent disclosure.

The method 1500 may then proceed to block 1506 where a visualizationprovided on the second webpage is updated based on the data input to thefirst webpage. In an embodiment, at block 1506, the data exchangecontroller 1304 b may use the data input received at the first webpageand update a second webpage based on that data input. The data exchangecontroller 1304 b may execute an event handler that may be executedasynchronously from other aspects of the webpage. The event handler mayprovide the data received at the first webpage to the second webpage.The second webpage may update according to the data received. In someembodiments, the second webpage may include an “onDataReceived”function. In some embodiments, an onDataRecieved event occurs, and afunction of that name is called, when data is received within theprotocol described, e.g., when initializing a display or updating adisplay. Whenever this function is called with properly formatted data,the second webpage may use the data to execute new outcomes.

In some embodiments, the website could include a sendDataToParentfunction or other send function. A sendDataToParent function, may returndata to a parent (e.g., linked-to) webpage, so communication could bebi-directional. Adding the data connection protocol may be implementedwith existing html standards, such as with webSockets and WebRTC dataconnections. In various embodiments, the data input received may beprocessed via circumvention of a same-origin policy of the browserapplication 1304 a on which the first webpage and the second webpage areoperating. As such, the updating the first visualization provided on thesecond webpage based on the first data input may be performed withoutsending the update outside of a client computing device operating thebrowser application 1304 a for the first website and the second website.

In principle the server computing device 1206 or the server computingdevice 1208 delivers the data webpages to the client computing device.For example, the embedder and the webpages could be provided by theserver computing device 1206 or the server computing device 1208) andthen the data webpages communicate and send information one to eachother, all on the client computing device 1300. No information may bereceived or sent from any server.

However, one of the data webpages may communicate with the servercomputing device 1206 or the server computing device 1208 to receive orsend information. For instance, data wedges may be built to gathercombined information about markets and currencies in real time, and thensend this info through sendDataToParent. This info will be sent to otherwebpages. In another example, one of the data webpages is a controllerof a server computing device service provided by the web application1406. For instance, web application 1406 hosted on the server computingdevice 1400 could run a machine learning engine. The data webpagereceives data, processes it and sends the data required by the model,receives the results from the model in the server, and sends the resultsthrough sendDataToParent to the other data webpages.

Thus, server computing device services that deliver data, process data,or store data may be used in a very similar way as data webpages, andconfigurations of server applications and data webpage may be createdwith a variety of architectures.

The method 1500 may then proceed to block 1508 where the updatedvisualization on the second webpage is displayed. In an embodiment, atblock 1508, the browser application 1304 a may display the updatedvisualization on the second webpage. For example, the browserapplication 1304 a may present the second webpage with the updatedvisualization.

In various embodiments, the method 1500 may iterate as data is beinginputted. Furthermore, the method 1500 may be performed from theperspective of the second webpage where the second webpage receives asecond data input and a visualization is updated on the first webpagebased on the second data input. The updated second visualization on thesecond webpage may be displayed on the display device of the clientcomputing device 1202/1300. As such, updating one webpage with a datainput can cause the other webpage to update a visualization that isbased on the data input to the receiving data webpage.

In yet another implementation of 1500, the first webpage may be a parentof the second webpage and a third webpage accessible at a third domain.For example, the second webpage and the third webpage may be embedded inthe first webpage. The data input to the first webpage at block 1504 maycause, at block 1506, a visualization provided on the third webpage toupdate based on that data input. In other embodiments, the third webpagemay embed the first webpage and the second webpage are embedded in thethird webpage such that the third webpage is a parent webpage. The thirdwebpage may include the protocol functions discussed herein such thatthe third webpage facilitates the updating the first visualizationprovided on the second webpage based on the first data input.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of method 1500 of the present disclosure.FIG. 3 illustrates a web browser 300. The web browser 300 may obtain afirst webpage 302 that may include a second webpage 304, a third webpage306, and fourth webpage 308. In the illustrated example, the firstwebpage 302 embeds the second webpage 304, the third webpage 306, andthe fourth webpage 308. During block 1504 of method 1500, a user mayhave adjusted the map in the second webpage 304 from a “Europe view” toa “North and South America view” displayed by the second webpage 304. Asa result, the data exchange controller 1304 b (e.g., the functions orevent handler) may cause the data input to the second webpage 304 to beprovided to the third webpage 306. As such, the third webpage 306 may beupdated from a “Europe view” or other view to the “North and SouthAmerica view” that mirrors the second webpage 304.

Thus, systems and methods of the present disclosure describe a dataexchange system between applications of different domains. Bycommunicating data between websites via the functions and event handlersaccording to embodiments of the present disclosure discussed above,technical improvements are made to website functionality and nativeapplications. The data exchange system provides for data exchangebetween websites of different domains that does not require data to bereentered for each website that in a window or browser. This allows fordevelopers to create an efficient flow of data between websites withoutthe user's having to reenter data for each website. This reducesbandwidth and latency in the system as fewer inputs and calls to aserver are needed as communication at the client computing devicebetween websites may be enabled. These and other technical improvementswill be recognized by those of skill in the art in possession of thepresent disclosure.

3. Self-Disabling or Self-Deleting Mobile Applications

Some embodiments include native mobile apps that are able to self-deletefrom the user's phone. The self-delete trigger may be based on a seriesof lists events that will terminate the life-cycle of an App (e.g.,time, task, geolocation).

The techniques have a variety of use cases. For example, a company maysend an app to all sales people of the company, and this App may runs aChristmas Promotion (e.g., exclusively) and include a milestone for thesales team. In some cases, this promotion app will self-delete from yourphone at 24th of December when the milestone hits the deadline. In somecases, the application may delete conditionally on if a server indicatesthe sales team met a goal.

In some embodiments, the determination to delete a given application ismade by code distributed with that application. For example, theapplication, upon being installed, may register with a scheduler serviceof the mobile computing device, and that scheduler service may executethe distributed code, for instance periodically, or in response to anevent occurring, like a change in wireless network environment, a changein geolocation greater than a threshold, launching of the application,the mobile device entering a sleep state, or the mobile device wakingfrom a sleep state. In some embodiments, the application code includes adisablement routine that executes upon such an event, for example as abackground process on the mobile computing device. In some cases, thedisablement routine deletes/disables the application without seeking theuser's permission.

In some embodiments, the disablement routine may determine whetherdisablement criteria specified by the entity that provided the code havebeen satisfied. Disablement criteria may take a variety of differentforms or combinations thereof, such as the following:

-   a criteria that a particular date and time have been reached and    surpassed;-   a criteria that the application has been distributed for more than a    threshold amount of time to the mobile computing device;-   a criteria that the application has been registered to the user of    the mobile computing device for more than a threshold amount of    time;-   a criteria that the application has been in use by a user of the    mobile computing device for more than a threshold amount of time;-   a criteria that the mobile device is within a geographic area    defined by a geofence;-   a criteria that the mobile device is within range of a specified    wireless network, for instance as indicated by Bluetooth identifier    or Wi-Fi identifier embedded in a corresponding beacon broadcast by    another device and received by the mobile device;-   a criteria that the mobile device experience more than a threshold    amount of failed logon attempts;-   a criteria that the user failed to enter credentials into the    application correctly more than a threshold amount of times;-   a criteria that the application has been previously deleted from the    mobile device or otherwise disabled;-   a criteria that the application has been previously deleted or    otherwise disabled for a given user account;-   a criteria that the mobile device has been engaged to perform a    particular task more than a threshold amount of times;-   a criteria that the mobile device is currently engaging in a    particular task;-   a criteria that the mobile devices not within range of a different    device broadcasting a wireless beacon with a beacon identifier that    is specified by the criteria;-   a criteria that a user has not performed a task with the mobile    device, for instance reaching a particular level of performance    within a game or workflow;-   a criteria that a remote server provide a signal indicating the user    or a group of users have achieved a sales goal/exercise    goal/fundraising goal/workload goal, etc.;-   a criteria that a battery level of the mobile device is above or    below a threshold;-   a criteria that the mobile device has wireless network access to the    Internet of greater than a threshold quality;-   a criteria that the mobile device have certain attributes, such as    an operating system of greater than or less than a threshold version    number or within a white list or out of a black list of versions, or    a processor or memory with or without certain attributes;-   a criteria that the user has not used the application within a    threshold duration of time;-   a criteria that the user has not used the application with greater    than a threshold frequency over a trailing duration of time;-   a criteria that the application has not been updated within a    threshold duration of time; or-   a criteria that the user is not shared the application with more    than a threshold amount of other users or received credit for a    threshold amount of other user installations within a threshold    duration of time.

In some embodiments, these criteria that may be combined in accordancewith any permutation of the above, along with other criteria consistentwith the above listing.

As noted above, some criteria relate to time. In some embodiments, auser may attempt to defeat such criteria by modifying a system clock ofthe mobile computing device. Accordingly, some embodiments may measuretime according to some trusted external signal, for instance, a timingsignal received from a global positioning system satellite. In someembodiments, the timing signal may be received with a signedcryptographic signature of a global satellite system indicating that thetiming signal can be trusted, and some embodiments may verify the signedcryptographic signature with a public key of the global satellitesystem.

In some embodiments, the disablement routine may be executed by a remoteserver and the results of the routine communicated back to the mobilecomputing device. Designs in which the routine is executed on the mobiledevice, however, are expected to be more robust to attempts to defeatthe disablement routine by users severing network contact.

In some embodiments, the disablement routine may delete data and code ofthe application upon determining that disablement criteria aresatisfied. For example, some mobile devices may maintain a copy of theapplication in persistent storage, for instance in flash, and a copy ofthe executing code in dynamic memory, like dynamic random access memory.In some cases, and executing copy in dynamic random access memory maycause the mobile device to delete the version of persistent storage,such that once the copy in dynamic random access memory is deleted, forinstance upon terminating the program, the application may be removedfrom the mobile computing device.

In some cases, the disablement routine may only delete data or coderequired by the application to operate, or portions of the applicationto operate, for instance to disable particular features (rather thandeleting all code and data). For example, the application or portionthereof may verify that a cryptographic key is stored in memory of themobile computing device before executing, and some embodiments maydelete that cryptographic key to disable the code. In some embodiments,the cryptographic key may be stored in a trusted execution environmentof the mobile computing device, executed by a different processor from aprocessor that executes the disablement routine or the application. Someembodiments may instruct the trusted execution environment processor todelete the key by communicating an interrupt via a buffer to the trustedexecution environment that invokes a routine that deletes the key.

In some embodiments, the applications can be configured to receive,compile, and transmit the data according to the protocols and for use inthe visualization schema disclosed in this specification, and thenself-disable or self-delete according to the techniques taught herein.

4. Filtering and Transformation Sequence for Fast Exploration of BigDatasets

Based on the above-described efficient filtering and transformationprotocol, or other protocols, some embodiments afford a system by whichusers may explore relatively large databases, such as distributeddatabases, by applying consecutive filters sequentially.

In some embodiments, the filtering process operates on different typesof dimensions, including numerical, categorical, text, graphs andimages.

In some embodiments, the filtering process is iterative and is based ontwo tasks: 1) applying a filter; and 2) executing accumulated filters.

In some embodiments, a session starts with an application receiving arandom (e.g., pseudorandom) sample of a full dataset, e.g., samplingwith or without replacement to obtain less than 50%, less than 10%, lessthan 1%, or less than 0.1% of records responsive to a query to thedatabase. In some cases, the sample is representative, butproportionally relatively small in comparison to the full populationbeing characterized. Example sizes expected to accord with commercialimplementations include the following: Dataset size is 10 000 000 rows(e.g., records responsive to a query); and Sample: 20 000 (0.2%).

The application, in some embodiments, allows for filtering the datausing all (or various subsets of) the available variables: selectingrange of values from a number series, selecting a category value, etc.The application, in some embodiments, causes user devices to depictvisualizations and statistics of the filtered loaded sample. As filtersare applied the resulting (post filtering) dataset generally getssmaller.

At some point (e.g., after iteratively applying filters, adjusting thosefilters with modification, removal, or addition of filters, and viewingthe results) the user is satisfied with the sequence of filters, or theobtained dataset is too small to trust the visuals and statistics. Atthat point, in some embodiments, the user executes the filters andtransformations (e.g., by selecting input in a user interface to whichembodiments are responsive), which may cause the user device to issue arequest for the server, for instance by sending the description of thesequence of filters (using the filters and transformation protocol) andthe filters and transformations may be (e.g., all) applied to theoriginal complete dataset. Then a new sample may be created (e.g., atthe server, at the user device, or in cooperation between these twodevices) based on this new dataset, and returned to the clientapplication.

These operations are exemplified by the following description continuingwith the above numerical reference example:

-   -   Dataset size: 10 000 000 rows    -   Dataset with filters and transformations: 500 000 rows    -   Sample over filtered and transformed dataset: 20 000 (4%)

In this example, the new sample is then expected to be morerepresentative respect to the transformed/filtered dataset.

Once the client application has loaded the new sample, in someembodiments, the process can start again. The user may apply morefilters and transformations and eventually executes them, receiving anew sample, each time more representative, in some cases.

At some point the server may cease executing sampling because thefiltered and transformed data is already small enough (for examplecontains less than 20 000 rows). In some embodiments, the server maycompare a number of records in the dataset currently being explored(e.g., that passed a previously defined set of filters) to a threshold.In response to that number exceeding a threshold, embodiments maycontinue sampling in the manner described above. In response to thatnumber being below the threshold, embodiments may cease sampling andoperate on every record in the dataset currently being explored, e.g.,depicting every record in visualizations and calculating statistics onevery record.

In some embodiments, an application that integrates this technique isexpected to avoid executing the complete sequence offilterings/transformations and executions on every record initiallyretrieved from the database. Some embodiments may maintain a transactionsequential log of historic operations, and embodiments may provide aninterface by which users can go back into the sequence and start fromanother point and create a new branch. An advanced embodiment of thissystem afford the following features:

-   -   saving multiple different states (e.g., sequences), with name        and comments;    -   saving branches, so there is a historic of which sequences        derive from each other, e.g., in a tree data structure;    -   generating visualizations of the historic of sequences,        including the different statistics calculated at different        points in the path, and the user can use this visualization to        navigate the program to previous states;    -   comparing and contrasting different states, e.g., the statistics        of the different populations contrasted and visualized        comparatively;    -   applying machine learning methods based on sequence of        filterings, such as decision trees (e.g., trained with CART), to        automatically explore sequence of filterings that predict a        category (classification) or maximize a value (regression). Such        sequences may be stored and compared with human produced        sequences. In some cases, decision trees may be accessed as        suggestion mechanism for human exploration, creating novel        opportunities for human-machine collaboration;    -   as a filtering/transformation+filter execution is stored using        the data transformation protocol, in some embodiments, this        sequence is independent of the actual client application in        which it the sequence has been built. This opens multiple        opportunities exploited by some embodiments:        -   a) one such client application can, externally, control the            sequence of filters of another client application (using the            data transformation protocol, ad in the context of multiple            connected screens);        -   b) multiple such application can be synchronized, allowing            for multiple users exploration collaboration;    -   in some embodiments of the system, client application and server        application may deliver statistics and metrics calculated on the        filtered dataset before being sampled; when the sample is        delivered to the client application it comes along with        statistics based on the non sampled data, so accuracy is, in        some cases, 100%;    -   on the server side, a sequence of filters may be applied        optimally, sorting the sequence in a way the strongest filters        (e.g., the ones that reduce the size of the data faster, which        may be identified by testing and ranking the filters) are        applied first. This may be done, in some cases, only with        commutative transformations such as simple filters, or in some        cases, with other filters;    -   an application may create different reports from the filtered        populations, expressing the sequence of        filterings/transformations and providing metrics, statistics and        visualization.

With this cyclical process a user is expected to be able to quickly(e.g., with low latency, such as less than 5 seconds, less than 1second, or less than 500 milliseconds in response to a user request)explore a huge dataset, doing things such as:

-   -   Looking for outliers found in the “corners” of the dataset,        combination of low probability; this will reduce very quickly        the size of the filtered dataset, and thus producing also very        fast a dataset that's no longer sampled    -   Finding population pockets that maximize or minimize certain        properties    -   Comparing multiple populations filtered following different        sequences

FIG. 7 is a diagram that illustrates an exemplary computing system 700in accordance with embodiments of the present technique. Variousportions of systems and methods described herein, may include or beexecuted on one or more computer systems similar to computing system700. Further, processes and modules described herein may be executed byone or more processing systems similar to that of computing system 700.

Computing system 700 may include one or more processors (e.g.,processors 710 a-710 n) coupled to system memory 720, an input/outputI/O device interface 730, and a network interface 740 via aninput/output (I/O) interface 750. A processor may include a singleprocessor or a plurality of processors (e.g., distributed processors). Aprocessor may be any suitable processor capable of executing orotherwise performing instructions. A processor may include a centralprocessing unit (CPU) that carries out program instructions to performthe arithmetical, logical, and input/output operations of computingsystem 700. A processor may execute code (e.g., processor firmware, aprotocol stack, a database management system, an operating system, or acombination thereof) that creates an execution environment for programinstructions. A processor may include a programmable processor. Aprocessor may include general or special purpose microprocessors. Aprocessor may receive instructions and data from a memory (e.g., systemmemory 720). Computing system 700 may be a uni-processor systemincluding one processor (e.g., processor 710 a), or a multi-processorsystem including any number of suitable processors (e.g., 710 a-710 n).Multiple processors may be employed to provide for parallel orsequential execution of one or more portions of the techniques describedherein. Processes, such as logic flows, described herein may beperformed by one or more programmable processors executing one or morecomputer programs to perform functions by operating on input data andgenerating corresponding output. Processes described herein may beperformed by, and apparatus can also be implemented as, special purposelogic circuitry, e.g., an FPGA (field programmable gate array) or anASIC (application specific integrated circuit). Computing system 700 mayinclude a plurality of computing devices (e.g., distributed computersystems) to implement various processing functions.

I/O device interface 730 may provide an interface for connection of oneor more I/O devices 760 to computer system 700. I/O devices may includedevices that receive input (e.g., from a user) or output information(e.g., to a user). I/O devices 760 may include, for example, graphicaluser interface presented on displays (e.g., a cathode ray tube (CRT) orliquid crystal display (LCD) monitor), pointing devices (e.g., acomputer mouse or trackball), keyboards, keypads, touchpads, scanningdevices, voice recognition devices, gesture recognition devices,printers, audio speakers, microphones, cameras, or the like. I/O devices760 may be connected to computer system 700 through a wired or wirelessconnection. I/O devices 760 may be connected to computer system 700 froma remote location. I/O devices 760 located on remote computer system,for example, may be connected to computer system 700 via a network andnetwork interface 740.

Network interface 740 may include a network adapter that provides forconnection of computer system 700 to a network. Network interface may740 may facilitate data exchange between computer system 700 and otherdevices connected to the network. Network interface 740 may supportwired or wireless communication. The network may include an electroniccommunication network, such as the Internet, a local area network (LAN),a wide area network (WAN), a cellular communications network, or thelike.

System memory 720 may be configured to store program instructions 721 ordata 722. Program instructions 721 may be executable by a processor(e.g., one or more of processors 710 a-710 n) to implement one or moreembodiments of the present techniques. Instructions 721 may includemodules of computer program instructions for implementing one or moretechniques described herein with regard to various processing modules.Program instructions may include a computer program (which in certainforms is known as a program, software, software application, script, orcode). A computer program may be written in a programming language,including compiled or interpreted languages, or declarative orprocedural languages. A computer program may include a unit suitable foruse in a computing environment, including as a stand-alone program, amodule, a component, or a subroutine. A computer program may or may notcorrespond to a file in a file system. A program may be stored in aportion of a file that holds other programs or data (e.g., one or morescripts stored in a markup language document), in a single filededicated to the program in question, or in multiple coordinated files(e.g., files that store one or more modules, sub programs, or portionsof code). A computer program may be deployed to be executed on one ormore computer processors located locally at one site or distributedacross multiple remote sites and interconnected by a communicationnetwork.

System memory 720 may include a tangible program carrier having programinstructions stored thereon. A tangible program carrier may include anon-transitory computer readable storage medium. A non-transitorycomputer readable storage medium may include a machine readable storagedevice, a machine readable storage substrate, a memory device, or anycombination thereof. Non-transitory computer readable storage medium mayinclude non-volatile memory (e.g., flash memory, ROM, PROM, EPROM,EEPROM memory), volatile memory (e.g., random access memory (RAM),static random access memory (SRAM), synchronous dynamic RAM (SDRAM)),bulk storage memory (e.g., CD-ROM and/or DVD-ROM, hard-drives), or thelike. System memory 720 may include a non-transitory computer readablestorage medium that may have program instructions stored thereon thatare executable by a computer processor (e.g., one or more of processors710 a-710 n) to cause the subject matter and the functional operationsdescribed herein. A memory (e.g., system memory 720) may include asingle memory device and/or a plurality of memory devices (e.g.,distributed memory devices). Instructions or other program code toprovide the functionality described herein may be stored on a tangible,non-transitory computer readable media. In some cases, the entire set ofinstructions may be stored concurrently on the media, or in some cases,different parts of the instructions may be stored on the same media atdifferent times, e.g., a copy may be created by writing program code toa first-in-first-out buffer in a network interface, where some of theinstructions are pushed out of the buffer before other portions of theinstructions are written to the buffer, with all of the instructionsresiding in memory on the buffer, just not all at the same time.

I/O interface 750 may be configured to coordinate I/O traffic betweenprocessors 710 a-710 n, system memory 720, network interface 740, I/Odevices 760, and/or other peripheral devices. I/O interface 750 mayperform protocol, timing, or other data transformations to convert datasignals from one component (e.g., system memory 720) into a formatsuitable for use by another component (e.g., processors 710 a-710 n).I/O interface 750 may include support for devices attached throughvarious types of peripheral buses, such as a variant of the PeripheralComponent Interconnect (PCI) bus standard or the Universal Serial Bus(USB) standard.

Embodiments of the techniques described herein may be implemented usinga single instance of computer system 700 or multiple computer systems700 configured to host different portions or instances of embodiments.Multiple computer systems 700 may provide for parallel or sequentialprocessing/execution of one or more portions of the techniques describedherein.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that computer system 700 ismerely illustrative and is not intended to limit the scope of thetechniques described herein. Computer system 700 may include anycombination of devices or software that may perform or otherwise providefor the performance of the techniques described herein. For example,computer system 700 may include or be a combination of a cloud-computingsystem, a data center, a server rack, a server, a virtual server, adesktop computer, a laptop computer, a tablet computer, a server device,a client device, a mobile telephone, a personal digital assistant (PDA),a mobile audio or video player, a game console, a vehicle-mountedcomputer, or a Global Positioning System (GPS), or the like. Computersystem 700 may also be connected to other devices that are notillustrated, or may operate as a stand-alone system. In addition, thefunctionality provided by the illustrated components may in someembodiments be combined in fewer components or distributed in additionalcomponents. Similarly, in some embodiments, the functionality of some ofthe illustrated components may not be provided or other additionalfunctionality may be available.

Those skilled in the art will also appreciate that while various itemsare illustrated as being stored in memory or on storage while beingused, these items or portions of them may be transferred between memoryand other storage devices for purposes of memory management and dataintegrity. Alternatively, in other embodiments some or all of thesoftware components may execute in memory on another device andcommunicate with the illustrated computer system via inter-computercommunication. Some or all of the system components or data structuresmay also be stored (e.g., as instructions or structured data) on acomputer-accessible medium or a portable article to be read by anappropriate drive, various examples of which are described above. Insome embodiments, instructions stored on a computer-accessible mediumseparate from computer system 700 may be transmitted to computer system700 via transmission media or signals such as electrical,electromagnetic, or digital signals, conveyed via a communication mediumsuch as a network or a wireless link. Various embodiments may furtherinclude receiving, sending, or storing instructions or data implementedin accordance with the foregoing description upon a computer- accessiblemedium. Accordingly, the present invention may be practiced with othercomputer system configurations.

In block diagrams, illustrated components are depicted as discretefunctional blocks, but embodiments are not limited to systems in whichthe functionality described herein is organized as illustrated. Thefunctionality provided by each of the components may be provided bysoftware or hardware modules that are differently organized than ispresently depicted, for example such software or hardware may beintermingled, conjoined, replicated, broken up, distributed (e.g. withina data center or geographically), or otherwise differently organized.The functionality described herein may be provided by one or moreprocessors of one or more computers executing code stored on a tangible,non-transitory, machine readable medium. In some cases, notwithstandinguse of the singular term “medium,” the instructions may be distributedon different storage devices associated with different computingdevices, for instance, with each computing device having a differentsubset of the instructions, an implementation consistent with usage ofthe singular term “medium” herein. In some cases, third party contentdelivery networks may host some or all of the information conveyed overnetworks, in which case, to the extent information (e.g., content) issaid to be supplied or otherwise provided, the information may beprovided by sending instructions to retrieve that information from acontent delivery network.

The reader should appreciate that the present application describesseveral inventions. Rather than separating those inventions intomultiple isolated patent applications, applicants have grouped theseinventions into a single document because their related subject matterlends itself to economies in the application process. But the distinctadvantages and aspects of such inventions should not be conflated. Insome cases, embodiments address all of the deficiencies noted herein,but it should be understood that the inventions are independentlyuseful, and some embodiments address only a subset of such problems oroffer other, unmentioned benefits that will be apparent to those ofskill in the art reviewing the present disclosure. Due to costsconstraints, some inventions disclosed herein may not be presentlyclaimed and may be claimed in later filings, such as continuationapplications or by amending the present claims. Similarly, due to spaceconstraints, neither the Abstract nor the Summary of the Inventionsections of the present document should be taken as containing acomprehensive listing of all such inventions or all aspects of suchinventions.

It should be understood that the description and the drawings are notintended to limit the invention to the particular form disclosed, but tothe contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents,and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the presentinvention as defined by the appended claims. Further modifications andalternative embodiments of various aspects of the invention will beapparent to those skilled in the art in view of this description.Accordingly, this description and the drawings are to be construed asillustrative only and are for the purpose of teaching those skilled inthe art the general manner of carrying out the invention. It is to beunderstood that the forms of the invention shown and described hereinare to be taken as examples of embodiments. Elements and materials maybe substituted for those illustrated and described herein, parts andprocesses may be reversed or omitted, and certain features of theinvention may be utilized independently, all as would be apparent to oneskilled in the art after having the benefit of this description of theinvention. Changes may be made in the elements described herein withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention as described in thefollowing claims. Headings used herein are for organizational purposesonly and are not meant to be used to limit the scope of the description.

As used throughout this application, the word “may” is used in apermissive sense (i.e., meaning having the potential to), rather thanthe mandatory sense (i.e., meaning must). The words “include”,“including”, and “includes” and the like mean including, but not limitedto. As used throughout this application, the singular forms “a,” “an,”and “the” include plural referents unless the content explicitlyindicates otherwise. Thus, for example, reference to “an element” or “aelement” includes a combination of two or more elements, notwithstandinguse of other terms and phrases for one or more elements, such as “one ormore.” The term “or” is, unless indicated otherwise, non-exclusive,i.e., encompassing both “and” and “or.” Terms describing conditionalrelationships, e.g., “in response to X, Y,” “upon X, Y,”, “if X, Y,”“when X, Y,” and the like, encompass causal relationships in which theantecedent is a necessary causal condition, the antecedent is asufficient causal condition, or the antecedent is a contributory causalcondition of the consequent, e.g., “state X occurs upon condition Yobtaining” is generic to “X occurs solely upon Y” and “X occurs upon Yand Z.” Such conditional relationships are not limited to consequencesthat instantly follow the antecedent obtaining, as some consequences maybe delayed, and in conditional statements, antecedents are connected totheir consequents, e.g., the antecedent is relevant to the likelihood ofthe consequent occurring. Statements in which a plurality of attributesor functions are mapped to a plurality of objects (e.g., one or moreprocessors performing steps A, B, C, and D) encompasses both all suchattributes or functions being mapped to all such objects and subsets ofthe attributes or functions being mapped to subsets of the attributes orfunctions (e.g., both all processors each performing steps A-D, and acase in which processor 1 performs step A, processor 2 performs step Band part of step C, and processor 3 performs part of step C and step D),unless otherwise indicated. Further, unless otherwise indicated,statements that one value or action is “based on” another condition orvalue encompass both instances in which the condition or value is thesole factor and instances in which the condition or value is one factoramong a plurality of factors. Unless otherwise indicated, statementsthat “each” instance of some collection have some property should not beread to exclude cases where some otherwise identical or similar membersof a larger collection do not have the property, i.e., each does notnecessarily mean each and every. Limitations as to sequence of recitedsteps should not be read into the claims unless explicitly specified,e.g., with explicit language like “after performing X, performing Y,” incontrast to statements that might be improperly argued to imply sequencelimitations, like “performing X on items, performing Y on the X'editems,” used for purposes of making claims more readable rather thanspecifying sequence. Statements referring to “at least Z of A, B, andC,” and the like (e.g., “at least Z of A, B, or C”), refer to at least Zof the listed categories (A, B, and C) and do not require at least Zunits in each category. Unless specifically stated otherwise, asapparent from the discussion, it is appreciated that throughout thisspecification discussions utilizing terms such as “processing,”“computing,” “calculating,” “determining” or the like refer to actionsor processes of a specific apparatus, such as a special purpose computeror a similar special purpose electronic processing/computing device.Features described with reference to geometric constructs, like“parallel,” “perpendicular/orthogonal,” “square”, “cylindrical,” and thelike, should be construed as encompassing items that substantiallyembody the properties of the geometric construct, e.g., reference to“parallel” surfaces encompasses substantially parallel surfaces. Thepermitted range of deviation from Platonic ideals of these geometricconstructs is to be determined with reference to ranges in thespecification, and where such ranges are not stated, with reference toindustry norms in the field of use, and where such ranges are notdefined, with reference to industry norms in the field of manufacturingof the designated feature, and where such ranges are not defined,features substantially embodying a geometric construct should beconstrued to include those features within 15% of the definingattributes of that geometric construct.

The present techniques will be better understood with reference to thefollowing enumerated embodiments.

-   A non-transitory, machine-readable medium storing instructions that,    when executed by one or more processors, effectuate operations    comprising: receiving, by a computer system, identifiers of a set of    computing devices to participate in a cross-device data    visualization session; sending, by the computer system, a data set    to each of the computing devices and instructions to display a first    portion of the data set; receiving, by the computer system, an    interaction with one of the identified computing devices requesting    at least some of the other identified computing devices to display a    second, at least partially different, portion of the data set; and    sending, by the computer system, an instruction to display the    second, at least partially different, portion of the data set to the    at least some of the other identified computing devices, wherein the    instruction is sent without sending at least some of the second    portion after receiving the interaction and the instruction causes    the at least some of the other identified computing devices to    execute the instructions on the at least some of the second portion    of the data set that is present at the at least some of the other    identified computing devices, wherein the display of the first    portion of the data set and the display of the second at least    partially different portion of the data set displays different    aspects of data visualization.-   The medium of embodiment 1, wherein the interaction with one of the    computing devices is an implementation of at least one filter.-   The medium of any one of embodiments 1-2, wherein the interaction    with one of the computing devices requests at least some second set    of other identified computing devices to display a third, at least    partially different, portion of the data set, and the operations    comprise: sending a second instruction to display the third, at    least partially different, portion of the data set to the at least    some second set of other computing devices, wherein the instruction    is sent without sending at least some of the third portion after    receiving the interaction.-   The medium of any one of embodiments 1-2, wherein the operations    further comprise: receiving a second interaction with the one of the    computing devices requesting at least some different others of the    computing devices to display a third, at least partially different,    portion of the data set; and sending a second instruction to display    the third, at least partially different portion of the data set to    the at least some of the different other computing devices, wherein    the second instruction is sent without sending at least some of the    third portion after receiving the second interaction.-   The medium of any one of embodiments 1-3, wherein the receiving    identifiers step comprises: a transmission of a message from a    computing device communicating the computing device's participation    in the cross-device data visualization session; and the transmission    of an acknowledgement message to the computing device.-   The medium of any one of embodiments 1-4, wherein the instruction    includes a transformation process on the data set such that none of    the data set is provided in the instruction.-   The medium of any one of embodiments 1-5, wherein the set of    computing devices are connected via a secure connection established    using a full-duplex communication protocol.-   The medium of any one of embodiments 1-6, wherein none of the second    portion of the data set is used in the first portion of the data set    that is displayed.-   The medium of any one of embodiments 1-7, wherein the operations    further comprise: requesting at least some of the second portion of    the data set that is not cached in cache memory of the computing    device.-   The medium of any one of embodiments 1-8, wherein the operations    further comprise: determining, by the computer system, that the    second portion of the data set is more likely to be accessed than a    third portion of the data set based on the first portion of the data    set being displayed, wherein the third portion of the data set is    stored in a first cache storage that provides faster access than a    second cache storage where the second portion of the data set is    stored; and arranging, by the computer system, the second portion of    the data set to reside on the first cache storage.-   The medium of any one of embodiments 1-9, wherein the interaction    includes receiving a change in data of the data set from a sensor.-   A method, comprising: receiving, by a computer system, identifiers    of a set of computing devices to participate in a cross-device data    visualization session; sending, by the computer system, a data set    to each of the computing devices and instructions to display a first    portion of the data set; receiving, by the computer system, an    interaction with one of the identified computing devices requesting    at least some of the other identified computing devices to display a    second, at least partially different, portion of the data set; and    sending an instruction to display the second, at least partially    different portion of the data set to the at least some of the other    identified computing devices, wherein the instruction is sent    without sending at least some of the second portion after receiving    the interaction and the instruction causes the at least some of the    other identified computing devices to execute the instructions on    the at least some of the second portion of the data set that is    present at the at least some of the other identified computing    devices, wherein the display of the first portion of the data set    and the display of the second at least partially different portion    of the data set displays different aspects of data visualization.-   The method of embodiment 12, wherein the interaction with one of the    computing devices is an implementation of at least one filter.-   The method of any one of embodiments 12-13, wherein the interaction    with one of the computing devices requests at least some second set    of other identified computing devices to display a third, at least    partially different, portion of the data set, and the method further    comprises: sending a second instruction to display the third, at    least partially different, portion of the data set to the at least    some second set of other computing devices, wherein the instruction    is sent without sending at least some of the third portion after    receiving the interaction.-   The method of any one of embodiments 12-14, further comprising:    receiving a second interaction with the one of the computing devices    requesting at least some different others of the computing devices    to display a third, at least partially different, portion of the    data set; and sending a second instruction to display the third, at    least partially different portion of the data set to the at least    some of the different other computing devices, wherein the second    instruction is sent without sending at least some of the third    portion after receiving the second interaction.-   The method of any one of embodiments 12-15, wherein the receiving    identifiers step comprises: a transmission of a message from a    computing device communicating the computing device's participation    in the cross-device data visualization session; and the transmission    of an acknowledgement message to the computing device.-   The method of any one of embodiments 12-16, wherein the instruction    includes a transformation process on the data set such that none of    the data set is provided in the instruction.-   The method of any one of embodiments 12-17, wherein none of the    second portion of the data set is used in the first portion of the    data set that is displayed.-   The method of any one of embodiments 12-18, further comprising:    requesting at least some of the second portion of the data set that    is not cached in cache memory of the computing device.-   The method of any one of embodiments 12-19, further comprising:    determining, by the computer system, that the second portion of the    data set is more likely to be accessed than a third portion of the    data set based on the first portion of the data set being displayed,    wherein the third portion of the data set is stored in a first cache    storage that provides faster access than a second cache storage    where the second portion of the data set is stored; and arranging,    by the computer system, the second portion of the data set to reside    on the first cache storage.

What is claimed is:
 1. A non-transitory, machine-readable medium storinginstructions that, when executed by one or more processors, effectuateoperations comprising: receiving, by a computer system, identifiers of aset of computing devices to participate in a cross-device datavisualization session; sending, by the computer system, a data set toeach of the computing devices and instructions to display a firstportion of the data set; receiving, by the computer system, aninteraction with one of the identified computing devices requesting atleast some of the other identified computing devices to display asecond, at least partially different, portion of the data set; andsending, by the computer system, an instruction to display the second,at least partially different, portion of the data set to the at leastsome of the other identified computing devices, wherein the instructionis sent without sending at least some of the second portion afterreceiving the interaction and the instruction causes the at least someof the other identified computing devices to execute the instructions onthe at least some of the second portion of the data set that is presentat the at least some of the other identified computing devices, whereinthe display of the first portion of the data set and the display of thesecond at least partially different portion of the data set displaysdifferent aspects of data visualization.
 2. The medium of claim 1,wherein the interaction with one of the computing devices is animplementation of at least one filter.
 3. The medium of claim 1, whereinthe interaction with one of the computing devices requests at least somesecond set of other identified computing devices to display a third, atleast partially different, portion of the data set, and the operationscomprise: sending a second instruction to display the third, at leastpartially different, portion of the data set to the at least some secondset of other computing devices, wherein the instruction is sent withoutsending at least some of the third portion after receiving theinteraction.
 4. The medium of claim 1, wherein the operations furthercomprise: receiving a second interaction with the one of the computingdevices requesting at least some different others of the computingdevices to display a third, at least partially different, portion of thedata set; and sending a second instruction to display the third, atleast partially different portion of the data set to the at least someof the different other computing devices, wherein the second instructionis sent without sending at least some of the third portion afterreceiving the second interaction.
 5. The medium of claim 1, wherein thereceiving identifiers step comprises: a transmission of a message from acomputing device communicating the computing device's participation inthe cross-device data visualization session; and the transmission of anacknowledgement message to the computing device.
 6. The medium of claim1, wherein the instruction includes a transformation process on the dataset such that none of the data set is provided in the instruction. 7.The medium of claim 1, wherein the set of computing devices areconnected via a secure connection established using a full-duplexcommunication protocol.
 8. The medium of claim 1, wherein none of thesecond portion of the data set is used in the first portion of the dataset that is displayed.
 9. The medium of claim 1, wherein the operationsfurther comprise: requesting at least some of the second portion of thedata set that is not cached in cache memory of the computing device. 10.The medium of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:determining, by the computer system, that the second portion of the dataset is more likely to be accessed than a third portion of the data setbased on the first portion of the data set being displayed, wherein thethird portion of the data set is stored in a first cache storage thatprovides faster access than a second cache storage where the secondportion of the data set is stored; and arranging, by the computersystem, the second portion of the data set to reside on the first cachestorage.
 11. The medium of claim 1, wherein the interaction includesreceiving a change in data of the data set from a sensor.
 12. A method,comprising: receiving, by a computer system, identifiers of a set ofcomputing devices to participate in a cross-device data visualizationsession; sending, by the computer system, a data set to each of thecomputing devices and instructions to display a first portion of thedata set; receiving, by the computer system, an interaction with one ofthe identified computing devices requesting at least some of the otheridentified computing devices to display a second, at least partiallydifferent, portion of the data set; and sending an instruction todisplay the second, at least partially different portion of the data setto the at least some of the other identified computing devices, whereinthe instruction is sent without sending at least some of the secondportion after receiving the interaction and the instruction causes theat least some of the other identified computing devices to execute theinstructions on the at least some of the second portion of the data setthat is present at the at least some of the other identified computingdevices, wherein the display of the first portion of the data set andthe display of the second at least partially different portion of thedata set displays different aspects of data visualization.
 13. Themethod of claim 12, wherein the interaction with one of the computingdevices is an implementation of at least one filter.
 14. The method ofclaim 12, wherein the interaction with one of the computing devicesrequests at least some second set of other identified computing devicesto display a third, at least partially different, portion of the dataset, and the method further comprises: sending a second instruction todisplay the third, at least partially different, portion of the data setto the at least some second set of other computing devices, wherein theinstruction is sent without sending at least some of the third portionafter receiving the interaction.
 15. The method of claim 12, furthercomprising: receiving a second interaction with the one of the computingdevices requesting at least some different others of the computingdevices to display a third, at least partially different, portion of thedata set; and sending a second instruction to display the third, atleast partially different portion of the data set to the at least someof the different other computing devices, wherein the second instructionis sent without sending at least some of the third portion afterreceiving the second interaction.
 16. The method of claim 12, whereinthe receiving identifiers step comprises: a transmission of a messagefrom a computing device communicating the computing device'sparticipation in the cross-device data visualization session; and thetransmission of an acknowledgement message to the computing device. 17.The method of claim 12, wherein the instruction includes atransformation process on the data set such that none of the data set isprovided in the instruction.
 18. The method of claim 12, wherein none ofthe second portion of the data set is used in the first portion of thedata set that is displayed.
 19. The method of claim 12, furthercomprising: requesting at least some of the second portion of the dataset that is not cached in cache memory of the computing device.
 20. Themethod of claim 12, further comprising: determining, by the computersystem, that the second portion of the data set is more likely to beaccessed than a third portion of the data set based on the first portionof the data set being displayed, wherein the third portion of the dataset is stored in a first cache storage that provides faster access thana second cache storage where the second portion of the data set isstored; and arranging, by the computer system, the second portion of thedata set to reside on the first cache storage.